Discrete Mathematics and Combinatorics Commons^™

Asymptotic Classes, Pseudofinite Cardinality And Dimension, Alexander Van Abel

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

We explore the consequences of various model-theoretic tameness conditions upon the behavior of pseudofinite cardinality and dimension. We show that for pseudofinite theories which are either Morley Rank 1 or uncountably categorical, pseudofinite cardinality in ultraproducts satisfying such theories is highly well-behaved. On the other hand, it has been shown that pseudofinite dimension is not necessarily well-behaved in all ultraproducts of theories which are simple or supersimple; we extend such an observation by constructing simple and supersimple theories in which pseudofinite dimension is necessarily ill-behaved in all such ultraproducts. Additionally, we have novel results connecting various forms of asymptotic classes …

Unomaha Problem Of The Week (2021-2022 Edition), Brad Horner, Jordan M. Sahs

UNO Student Research and Creative Activity Fair

The University of Omaha math department's Problem of the Week was taken over in Fall 2019 from faculty by the authors. The structure: each semester (Fall and Spring), three problems are given per week for twelve weeks, with each problem worth ten points - mimicking the structure of arguably the most well-regarded university math competition around, the Putnam Competition, with prizes awarded to top-scorers at semester's end. The weekly competition was halted midway through Spring 2020 due to COVID-19, but relaunched again in Fall 2021, with massive changes.

Now there are three difficulty tiers to POW problems, roughly corresponding to …

How To Guard An Art Gallery: A Simple Mathematical Problem, Natalie Petruzelli

The Review: A Journal of Undergraduate Student Research

The art gallery problem is a geometry question that seeks to find the minimum number of guards necessary to guard an art gallery based on the qualities of the museum’s shape, specifically the number of walls. Solved by Václav Chvátal in 1975, the resulting Art Gallery Theorem dictates that ⌊n/3⌋ guards are always sufficient and sometimes necessary to guard an art gallery with n walls. This theorem, along with the argument that proves it, are accessible and interesting results even to one with little to no mathematical knowledge, introducing readers to common concepts in both geometry and graph …