AMUSE

Date: March 6, 2019

Time: 6:00PM - 7:00PM

Location: BLOC 220

Speaker: Dr. Igor Zelenko, Department of Mathematics, TAMU

Title: Euler characteristic, winding numbers, and can we comb a hedgehog?

Abstract: The goal of the talk is to give a glimpse into the remarkable topic of Mathematics, called Algebraic Topology on the example of solving of the following 'practical' problem: Can we comb a hedgehog? A hedgehog is called combed if there is no needle perpendicular to the surface of the hedgehog. To answer this question we need to define several remarkable integer numbers that do not change under quite large classes of deformations: the Euler number of a surface and the index of a stationary point of a vector field (which also related to a winding number of a curve) and then to relate this seemingly unrelated numbers. This kind of Mathematics should be definitely different from everything you have seen in high school and the first year of your university studies and I am sure you will not be bored.