amazing maths talks
Wednesday, 3 August 2005 09:10 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
miriam_eMoan complain! We need teleportation so that I can duck down to Melbourne to go to these amazing talks. I get green with envy that all these wonderful events are going on down there. Waaaaahhhh!
A photograph of the hapless student's homework, immortalised on a hardened clay tablet, is among the fascinating examples of mathematics throughout history to be revealed by a visiting Canadian mathematics professor in Melbourne as part of National Science Week.
Graphics Editor of the American Mathematical Society, author, and Professor of Mathematics at the University of British Colombia, Professor Bill Casselman, will present a lecture at Monash University tracing the extraordinary history of mathematics from its Mesopotamian origins through Renaissance and into the present day.
His one-hour presentation will reveal evidence that school students in 2000 BC practiced their multiplication tables in much the same way as students today, ancient traders used spreadsheets to record transactions, and examples of Pythagoras' theorem existed long before Pythagoras was born.
Using photographs of clay tablets, manuscripts, ancient books and computer animations, the presentation shows how geometry has developed, in a fascinating journey of mathematics through time.
"Mathematics is part of human culture. It's always played an important role in our society," said Professor Casselman. "Combining examples of ancient mathematics, which was amazingly sophisticated, with computer animation and graphics brings mathematics alive for many students and their teachers."
Professor Casselman will also present another lecture, Pursuing Penrose, at RMIT University as part of his visit.
The International Centre of Excellence for Education in Mathematics (ICE-EM) and the Australian Mathematical Sciences Institute (AMSI) in association with Monash University Science Centre (Clayton campus) are hosting Professor Casselman's Melbourne lectures.
Details:
From Babylon To Silicon Valley - An Illustrated History Of Mathematics
Thursday 11th August, 7pm - 8pm, $8/$5
Monash University Science Centre (Clayton campus), Building 74
Bookings essential: helen.rayner@sci.monash.edu.au or 9905 1370
Pursuing Penrose
Friday 12th August, 3:30pm - 4:30 pm
RMIT University, Venue Seminar room, Level 9, Building 8
Bookings: Associate Professor Bill Blyth, Department of Mathematics & Statistics, RMIT University
bill.blyth@rmit.edu.au or 9925 2511
ICE-EM is managed by AMSI, a consortium of 25 Australian university mathematics departments, CSIRO Mathematical and Information Sciences, the Australian Bureau of Statistics and the Australian Mathematics Trust.
Student's struggle with mathematics revealed - 4,000 years on
When one Babylonian student failed to complete his mathematics homework, little did he realise that his carelessness would come to light 4,000 years later.A photograph of the hapless student's homework, immortalised on a hardened clay tablet, is among the fascinating examples of mathematics throughout history to be revealed by a visiting Canadian mathematics professor in Melbourne as part of National Science Week.
Graphics Editor of the American Mathematical Society, author, and Professor of Mathematics at the University of British Colombia, Professor Bill Casselman, will present a lecture at Monash University tracing the extraordinary history of mathematics from its Mesopotamian origins through Renaissance and into the present day.
His one-hour presentation will reveal evidence that school students in 2000 BC practiced their multiplication tables in much the same way as students today, ancient traders used spreadsheets to record transactions, and examples of Pythagoras' theorem existed long before Pythagoras was born.
Using photographs of clay tablets, manuscripts, ancient books and computer animations, the presentation shows how geometry has developed, in a fascinating journey of mathematics through time.
"Mathematics is part of human culture. It's always played an important role in our society," said Professor Casselman. "Combining examples of ancient mathematics, which was amazingly sophisticated, with computer animation and graphics brings mathematics alive for many students and their teachers."
Professor Casselman will also present another lecture, Pursuing Penrose, at RMIT University as part of his visit.
The International Centre of Excellence for Education in Mathematics (ICE-EM) and the Australian Mathematical Sciences Institute (AMSI) in association with Monash University Science Centre (Clayton campus) are hosting Professor Casselman's Melbourne lectures.
Details:
From Babylon To Silicon Valley - An Illustrated History Of Mathematics
Thursday 11th August, 7pm - 8pm, $8/$5
Monash University Science Centre (Clayton campus), Building 74
Bookings essential: helen.rayner@sci.monash.edu.au or 9905 1370
Pursuing Penrose
Friday 12th August, 3:30pm - 4:30 pm
RMIT University, Venue Seminar room, Level 9, Building 8
Bookings: Associate Professor Bill Blyth, Department of Mathematics & Statistics, RMIT University
bill.blyth@rmit.edu.au or 9925 2511
ICE-EM is managed by AMSI, a consortium of 25 Australian university mathematics departments, CSIRO Mathematical and Information Sciences, the Australian Bureau of Statistics and the Australian Mathematics Trust.