Mathematics Department
Student Colloquium Series
PIZZA SERVED from 11:30 -11:55 in front of Hislop Family Auditorium
TALK STARTS AT 12:00 PM
“1, 2, skip a few”
Presented by
BRETT COLLINS
Department of Mathematics – Bucknell University
Thursday, February 17, 2022
12:00 P.M. HOLMES HALL – 116 Hislop Family Auditorium
Abstract: One of the most basic problems in mathematics is simply counting how many there are of something, such as the number of Sudoku puzzles or the number of arrangements of a Rubik’s Cube, yet this is often notoriously difficult. In this talk, I’ll show through examples how symmetry can be used in many problems like this and how we can easily generalize these ideas to more difficult counting problems. One thing that you can certainly count on is having mathematical fun.