Next week Dr. Paul Thurston, who earned his PhD in mathematics here at UT
will be giving both a junior colloquium (Thursday at 3:35 in HBB 102) and
a regular faculty colloquium. He tells me that his regular colloquium
(Friday at 3:35 in HBB 102), which is about mathematical finance, will
mostly be accessible to advanced undergraduates (e.g. having had advanced
calculus). If you are interested in finance or economics and have this
background, I encourage you to attend his regular colloquium in addition
to the JC. His JC will be accessible to students who have had basic
calculus, and will be more broad. Here are the details for the JC:

Title: An Introduction to Fractal Geometry with Applications in
Engineering, Biology and Finance

Speaker: Paul Thurston, Ph.D.


Abstract:

In an undergraduate calculus course, we usually study geometric objects
that are, in some sense, regular.

Examples of such 'regular' geometric objects include circles, spheres, and
polyhedra.

Experiencing the natural world around us, we often find that the most
common objects in nature, such as trees, mountains, and even the
circulatory systems of animals, are much more 'jagged', or irregular.

The term 'fractal' is often used to describe irregular objects such as
these examples found in nature.

Fractal Geometry provides a mathematical tool with which to study such
irregular geometric objects, and hopefully, gain more insight into
naturally occurring phenomena.

Popularized by Benoit Mandelbrot, many of us have seen the exotic artwork
inspired by fractals adorning paintings, posters and clothing.

Recently, fractals have found many practical applications in Engineering,
Biology and Finance.

(For example, every modern smart phone nowadays comes equipped with a
fractal, and these smart phones wouldn't work very well without the
fractal.)

In this talk, I'll describe the basic elements of fractal geometry and
present numerous practical examples of fractals in Engineering, Biology
and Finance.

Students with any background in undergraduate calculus should find the
presentation very accessible.

Conrad Plaut
Professor, Director of UT Math Honors
Math Department
Aconda Ct. 104
1534 Cumberland Ave.
University of Tennessee
Knoxville, TN 37996-0612

Office: Aconda Ct. 401A
Phone: 865-974-4319
http://web.utk.edu/~cplaut