Great Theorems -- Final

Final: Great Theorems

 


The list of 49 great theorems emailed and shared in class was (mostly) drawn from this book.  Each, in some way,
fits the description that its author Clifford Pickover gives above (from the book's Introduction). 

Pickover describes himself as a writer and futurist.  He  is surely in the community of recreational mathematics/STEM.  
Watch this great half-hour video with Alex Bellos to see another person in this community.

Please form a 2- or 3-person team, and prepare a presentation with slides and a narrative (notes on the slides or separate paper).  Click here for the guidelines for these two items, and the scoring rubric.  Note that each of us will evaluate/comment on the presentations and I will forward results to each team over the Break.

1.  Divergence Harmonic Series: 
     Michael K & Mathieu E ( paper)

2.  Parrando’s Paradox: 

     Caleb Carlson & Michael Layton

3.  The Problem of Points (Fermat & Pascal): 

     Ali McIntyre, Max Norberg, Heath Lancaster, & Abby Wastler

4.  Division Algorithm:  

     Kristen Haberern & Jamie Walker ( paper)

5.  Zeno’s Paradox: 

     Joe Harlow, Jacob Chaloupka & Emily Shaw ( paper )

6. Fundamental Theorem of Algebra: 

    Kenndrea Bazal, Monte Failoni  & Sid (Richard) Chaulk (paper)

7.  Pick’s Theorem: 

     Garrett Goostree & Scott Smallwood

8.  Fundamental Theorem of Arithmetic: 

     Noah Schofield & Dylan Ohman

 

9. The Infinite Monkey Theorem: 

      Jake Aadland & Gabe Miller ( paper)

10.  Goldbach Conjecture: 

       Nick Brown & Bailey Cotton

11.  Benford’s Law: 

       Miranda Paddock & Alexandria (paper)

    

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Exemplars from Spring 2013 student slides are posted below; they were not asked for a paper or narrative, and I think we see the consequence.  It is VERY difficult to recreate the message each team provided.  As you prepare your paper, use it to show me the math that's not in your slides, or the comments and interpretations that you'll share orally with the slides, or simply won't try to squeeze into your (well organized, brief) presentation.

1.  David:  fabulous presentation, lots of work, and he taught us something too.  This is very high on "good content" and organization.

2.  Milo & Jenna:  the topic of Fourier's series is intimately connected to so much of the 19th century.  Click here for the comments I provided Milo and Jenna, both of whom were earnestly engaged by their Analysis course and Jenna would go on to do a Summer Research project that involved Fourier results.

3.  Lilly:  this is particularly good on related people and consequences.

4. Clayton & Andrew:   contemporary theorem requires more math and reading might be harder too.  These aspects would have been appropriate for a narrative to accompany these slides.

5. Monica & Jess :  presentation stood out for the "creative element" of the slide format and visual organization.