4/26 – Dan Nichols: Finite Fields and the Mathematics of Forward Error Correction

Sorry for the late announcement, but if you can, please join us tomorrow as Math club hosts its final talk of the semester. We meet Wednesday 4/26, from 5-6 pm in LGRT 1528. Dan Nichols will give what may well be his final UMass math club talk, on Finite Fields and the Mathematics of Forward Error Correction. His abstract is below.

Finite Fields and the Mathematics of Forward Error Correction

Error-correcting codes for reliably storing and transmitting data are an essential tool of the information age, and many of the most widely used algorithms are based on number theoretic concepts such as finite field arithmetic. I will give a brief overview of the mathematics of coding theory and describe several popular types of codes including Reed-Solomon codes.

There will be a final math club next week, with no talk scheduled. We’ll just enjoy pizza and some down time together to do some mathy things, perhaps play some set, or watch some math videos.

4/12 – Tori Day – Hidden Figures: The African American Women Mathematicians of NASA Who Helped Fuel America’s Space Achievements

Please join us on Wednesday, April 12 when Math club will feature a talk from graduate student Tori Day titled “Hidden Figures: The African American Women Mathematicians of NASA Who
Helped Fuel America’s Space Achievements”. We meet from 5-6 pm in LGRT 1528. Pizza and soda will be provided. Tori’s abstract is below.

In this talk, we will explore the lives and times of three of the central
figures of NASA (then NACA)’s West Computing Group: Dorothy Vaughan, Mary
Jackson, and Katherine Johnson. Along the way we will discuss their
contributions to mathematics and engineering and the Space Race, as well
as the challenges they overcame and the roads they paved. We will end
with a basic and broad overview of a paper co-authored by Katherine
Johnson in 1960 entitled Determination of Azimuth Angle at Burnout for
Placing a Satellite Over a Selected Earth Position.