When: September 06, 2009   8:00 pm -  9:00 pm

Professor Gallian uses video animations to illustrate how mathematics can be used to create computer generated symmetry patterns. Polynomials, exponential functions, logarithms and modular arithmetic are used to transform basic images into symmetry patterns. These methods were used to create the image for the 2003 Mathematics Awareness Month poster.

Joseph Gallian is the Distinguished Professor of Teaching and Professor of Mathematics in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at the University of Minnesota, Duluth. Past President of The Mathematical Association of America, he is well known for his contributions to mathematics and to teaching, and for his encouragement of undergraduate research. In addition to his mathematics courses, he has taught a Humanities course on "The Lives and Music of the Beatles" for more than 25 years. A highly popular speaker and the recipient of numerous awards, Professor Gallian was named as one of the "100 Great Duluthians of the 20th Century" in the year 2000.

The talk is intended for a general audience and open to the public.

Contact: Prof. Donna Molinek