Dr. Arthur Benjamin
Professor of Mathematics, Harvey Mudd College
January 12, 2008, 1:00 p.m.
Mathematical Association of America Carriage House
1781 Church Street, NW
Washington, DC 20036
Currently, the registration for this lecture is completely full. RSVP is no longer available.
Many trigonometric identities, including the Pythagorean theorem, have combinatorial proofs. Furthermore, some combinatorial problems have trigonometric solutions. All of these problems can be reduced to alternating sums, and are attacked by a technique called D.I.E. (Description, Involution, Exception). This technique offers new insights to identities involving binomial coefficients, Fibonacci numbers, derangements, zig-zag permutations, and Chebyshev polynomials.
Bio:
Arthur Benjamin earned his B.S. in Applied Mathematics from Carnegie
Mellon and his PhD in Mathematical Sciences from Johns Hopkins. Since
1989, he has taught at Harvey Mudd College, where he is Professor of
Mathematics and past Chair. In 2000, he received the Haimo Award for
Distinguished Teaching by the Mathematical Association of America.
Currently, he serves as the MAA's Polya Lecturer, and will do so until 2008.
His research interests include game theory and combinatorics, with a
special fondness for Fibonacci numbers. Many of these ideas appear in
his book (co-authored with Jennifer Quinn), Proofs That Really Count:
The Art of Combinatorial Proof, published by MAA. In 2006, that book
received the Beckenbach Book Prize by the MAA. Professors Benjamin
and Quinn are the editors of Math Horizons magazine, published by
MAA.
Benjamin is also a magician who performs his mixture of math and magic to audiences all over the world, including the Magic Castle in Hollywood. He has demonstrated and explained his calculating talents in his book Secrets of Mental Math and on numerous television and radio programs, including The Today Show, CNN, and National Public Radio. He has been featured in Scientific American, Omni, Discover, People, Esquire, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and Reader's Digest. In 2005, Reader's Digest called him "America's Best Math Whiz."