Lecture event at the Schlaues Haus Oldenburg on the eve of International Mathematics Day (13 March)
19:00 - 20:00 On the hunt for the needle in the haystack - the mathematics of conspicuousness with Prof. Dr Peter Ruckdeschel, Institute of Mathematics, Carl von Ossietzky University Oldenburg
We humans are evolutionarily programmed to quickly detect conspicuous objects in our field of vision, especially if they are moving. However, this is only limited to our familiar (3-dimensional) space. If - as with fraud detection - the anomaly is hidden in a high-dimensional jumble of data, you can try to find it using suitable, random projections. With maths, however, you can quickly find good candidates for such projections.
20:00 - 21:00 Untangling knot theory with M. Sc. Álvaro Sánchez Hernández, Institute of Mathematics, Carl von Ossietzky University Oldenburg
Everyone knows what a knot is. We use knots to tie our shoes and ties, for decoration and to secure things. Nobody ever really studied them systematically until a false theory of matter was proposed. Those who believed in it tried to distinguish knots to classify the substances around us. Fortunately, when they realised they were wrong, they did not stop, because now knots could be the key to our healing or to the construction of materials that make our lives easier.
You will understand the study of knots and their surprising applications in such a way that you will never look at your shoelaces the same way again.
Register at: https://www.schlaues-haus.de/events/internationaler-tag-der-mathematik-2024/