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Thursday, April 19, 2012 - 1:00pm

Mark Levi

Pennsylvania State University

Location

Drexel University

Korman Center, Room 245

Physics often provides mathematics not only with a problem, but also with the idea of a solution. Some calculus problems can be solved more quickly without calculus, by using physics instead. Quite a few theorems which may seem somewhat mysterious become completely obvious when given a proper physical incarnation. This is the case for some “elementary” theorems (the Pythagorean Theorem, Pappus´ theorems, some trig identities, Euler´s formula V-E+F=2, and more) and for some less elementary ones: Noether´s theorem on conserved quantities, the preservation of Poincare´s integral invariants, the Gauss-Bonnet theorem, the Riemann Mapping Theorem, Green´s theorem, Moser´s theorem on Jacobians, the uniformization theorem, and more (no familiarity with any of these is assumed). I will describe a miscellaneous sampling of problems according to the audience´s preferences.