Jennifer Quinn: Mathematics to DIE For: The Battle Between Counting and Matching
Fall 2013 Michael E. Moody Lecture Series
Jennifer Quinn (University of Washington, Tacoma)
Positive sums count. Alternating sums match. So which is "easier" to consider mathematically? This talk is one part performance art and three parts combinatorics. The audience will judge a combinatorial competition between the competing techniques. Be prepared to explore a variety of positive and alternating sums involving binomial coefficients, Fibonacci numbers, and other beautiful combinatorial quantities. How are the terms in each sum concretely interpreted? What is being counted? What is being matched? Do alternating sums always give simpler results? You decide.