Time: Wednesday, March 6, 6-7pm

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 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 is also related to the 
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.