Cal Day

Mathematics Undergraduate Advising & Information
Don't miss this opportunity to visit advisers and get comprehensive information about major and minor programs in mathematics.
In 1015 Evans Hall
9:00 am - 4:00 pm

Ask the Mathematician Table
This is the place to get answers to everything you always wanted to know about mathematics (but couldn't find anyone to ask).
Professor George Bergman
In 1015 Evans Hall
9:00 am - 4:00 pm

Meet Current Math Students
The Math Undergraduate Student Association (MUSA) is the beating heart of the undergraduate math community (just ask its members!). Meet MUSA members and hear their perspectives and experiences as part of the top math department in the country.
In 1015 Evans Hall
9:30 am - 4:00 pm

Math Talks with Faculty
Three members of our distinguished faculty will present talks of general interest to the informed public. All lectures are located in 60 Evans Hall. The talks are always popular with Cal Day attendees!

10:00am-11:00am Tropical Mathematics, with Professor Bernd Sturmfels:

In tropical arithmetic, the sum of two numbers is their maximum and the product of two numbers is their usual sum. Many results familiar from high school algebra and geometry, including the formula for solving quadratic equations and the fact that two lines meet in one point, continue to hold in the tropics. In this lecture we learn how to draw tropical curves and why biologists might care about this.

11:30am-12:30pm The Voronoi tessellation: how a century-old mathematical idea is now used in everything, with Professor Christopher Rycroft:

In 1908, a Russian mathematician named Georgy Voronoi published a paper containing a simple geometrical idea: if one takes a sheet of paper and draws several points on it, then a polygon can be drawn around each point comprising of the space closer to that point than any other. Over the last century this simple idea, referred to as the Voronoi tessellation, has been used countless times in a wide range of scientific fields. During the past five years, computer software has been developed in Berkeley for calculating Voronoi tessellations. The software has been used in many fields, covering everything from biology to physics to sculpture design. In particular, it has been used to identify potential new materials for capturing carbon dioxide from power plants. This talk will introduce the Voronoi tessellation and describe some of these exciting applications.

1:00pm-2:00pm Topology and the possible shapes of the universe, with Professor Michael Hutchings:

This talk will give an introduction to the topology of two-dimensional surfaces and three- and four-dimensional spaces, such as the universe we live in, and discuss what mathematicians have done and are doing to classify the possible shapes.