Mathematics Commons^™

A Tutorial On Prolog, Russell C. Bjork

ACMS Conference Proceedings 1989

PROLOG is a programming language based on the use of mathematical logic—specifically the first order predicate calculus. The name is a contraction for “Programming in Logic”. PROLOG was developed in 1972 by Phillippe Roussel of the AI Group (Groupe d’Intelligence Artificielle) of the University of Marseille. Specifically, it is an outgrowth of research there on automatic theorem proving. PROLOG has been widely used by AI researchers in Europe and Japan. In fact, the Japanese have made it the basis for the software side of their “Fifth Generation” computer project. PROLOG is currently used in a wide variety of areas, not …

Augustine's Mathematical Realism, Paul J. Zwier

ACMS Conference Proceedings 1989

After a review of Philip Kitcher's argument against Mathematical Realism, this paper presents the case for Mathematical Realism by looking at the life and writings of Saint Augustine.

Beauty In Mathematics: Some Theological Implications, David L. Neuhouser

ACMS Conference Proceedings 1989

It may come as a surprise to some that science or mathematics could be considered beautiful, but many prominent sciences and mathematicians from around the world have made such claims. Furthermore, the beauty of mathematics and order of the universe inspired some of the greatest developments in science and mathematics. This paper examines the beauty of mathematics and what scientists and other individuals have said about the subject.

Using Writing In The Mathematics Classroom, Dr. Barbara J. Rose

ACMS Conference Proceedings 1989

No abstract provided.

Mathematics Between The Lines Of Ecclesiates, Donald A. Joesphson

ACMS Conference Proceedings 1989

No abstract provided.

Writing Across The Curriculum Using Statistics, Carlos A. Pereira

ACMS Conference Proceedings 1989

No abstract provided.

Written Assignments In College Freshman And Sophomore Mathematics Courses, Jean Alliman

ACMS Conference Proceedings 1989

No abstract provided.

Mathematical Modeling In The Classroom, Jefferson Hartzler

ACMS Conference Proceedings 1989

No abstract provided.

The Fourth Dimension And The Theology Of Edwin Abbot Abbott, Thomas F. Banchoff

ACMS Conference Proceedings 1989

No abstract provided.

Schedule (1989), Association Of Christians In The Mathematical Sciences

ACMS Conference Proceedings 1989

A Seventh Conference on Mathematics from a Christian Perspective

Gene B. Chase, Editor

Introduction (1989), Gene B. Chase

ACMS Conference Proceedings 1989

A Seventh Conference on Mathematics from a Christian Perspective

Gene B. Chase, Editor

Table Of Contents (1989), Association Of Christians In The Mathematical Sciences

ACMS Conference Proceedings 1989

A Seventh Conference on Mathematics from a Christian Perspective

Gene B. Chase, Editor

The Fourth Dimension And The Theology Of Edwin Abbott Abbott, Thomas Banchoff

ACMS Conference Proceedings 1989

This paper is a brief biography of Edwin Abbott Abbott, author of Flatland, and a sketch of the main ideas in the book. It also incorporates some personal reflections.

Homoclinic Bifurcations With Nonhyperbolic Equilibria, Bo Deng

Department of Mathematics: Faculty Publications

A general geometric approach is given for bifurcation problems with homoclinic orbits to nonhyperbolic equilbrium points of ordinary differential equations. It consists of a special normal form called admissible variables, exponential expansion, strong A-lemma, and Lyapnunov- Schmidt reduction for the Poincare maps under Sil'nikov variables. The method is based on the Center Manifold Theory, the contraction mapping principle, and the Implicit Function Theorem.

Nonnegative Solutions To A Semilinear Dirichlet Problem In A Ball Are Positive And Radially Symmetric, Alfonso Castro, Ratnasingham Shivaji

All HMC Faculty Publications and Research

We prove that nonnegative solutions to a semilinear Dirichlet problem in a ball are positive, and hence radially symmetric. In particular, this answers a question in [3] where positive solutions were proven to be radially symmetric. In section 4 we provide a sufficient condition on the geometry of the domain which ensures that nonnegative solutions are positive in the interior.

Turnpike Structures For Optimal Maneuvers, Arthur T. Benjamin

All HMC Faculty Publications and Research

This dissertation is concerned with problems of optimally maneuvering a collection of objects ("pieces") from one location to another, subject to various restrictions on the allowable movements. We illustrate and prove that when the "distance" from the origin to the destination is large, and the movement rules and environment satisfy certain "homogeneity" properties, there exist near-optimal trajectories with very special (turnpike) structure.

These results are obtained by representing the problem through a configuration graph. Here, we have a node for each configuration and an arc for every "different" legal move. Each arc is endowed with a scalar weight …

Augustine’S Mathematical Realism, Paul Zwier

ACMS Journal 2004

This paper begins by outlining an argument advanced against mathematical realism by Philip Kitcher. It then sketches the life and work of the great Christian philosopher and theologian, Augustine of Hippo. It discusses Augustine’s view that there exist eternal ideas in the mind of God that God used as templates in his creation of material objects. Among these are ideas about numbers and other mathematical objects. It also discusses Augustine’s understanding of how human beings have access to such ideas. It concludes with a discussion of some possible objections to Augustine’s perspective.

The Fourth Dimension And The Theology Of Edwin Abbott Abbott, Thomas Banchoff

ACMS Journal 2004

This paper is a brief biography of Edwin Abbott Abbott, author of Flatland, and a sketch of the main ideas in the book. It also incorporates some personal reflections.

Pixley-Roy Hyperspaces Of Ω-Graphs, Joe Mashburn

Mathematics Faculty Publications

The techniques developed by Wage and Norden are used to show that the Pixley-Roy hyperspaces of any two ω-graphs are homeomorphic. The Pixley-Roy hyperspaces of several subsets of Rⁿ are also shown to be homeomorphic.

On The Existence And Symmetry Properties Of Finite Total Mass Solutions Of The Matukuma Equation, The Eddington Equation And Their Generalizations, Yi Li, Wei-Ming Ni

Mathematics and Statistics Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

On Vector Sequence Transforms And Acceleration Techniques, Steven L. Hodge

Mathematics & Statistics Theses & Dissertations

This dissertation is devoted to the acceleration of convergence of vector sequences. This means to produce a replacement sequence from the original sequence with higher rate of convergence.

It is assumed that the sequence is generated from a linear matrix iteration x_i+ i = Gx_i + k where G is an n x n square matrix and x_I+1 , x_i,and k are n x 1 vectors. Acceleration of convergence is obtained when we are able to resolve approximations to low dimension invariant subspaces of G which contain large components of the error. When …

The Centrality Of Mathematics In The History Of Western Thought, Judith V. Grabiner

Pitzer Faculty Publications and Research

This article explores the interplay of mathematics and philosophy in Western thought as well as applications to other fields.

Multiple Solutions For A Dirichlet Problem With Jumping Nonlinearities Ii, Alfonso Castro, Ratnasingham Shivaji

All HMC Faculty Publications and Research

No abstract provided for this article.

Remarks On A Semilinear Elliptic Equation On Rn, Yi Li

Mathematics and Statistics Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Spectral Measures, Orthogonal Polynomials, And Absolute Continuity, Joanne Dombrowski

Mathematics and Statistics Faculty Publications

This paper studies the spectral measure of an unbounded tridiagonal matrix operator for which the matrix entries satisfy a certain growth condition, and presents a sufficient condition for the existence of an absolutely continuous part. The results are related to a class of orthogonal polynomials with exponential weights.

Stability Of Steady Cross-Waves: Theory And Experiment, Seth Lichter, Andrew J. Bernoff

All HMC Faculty Publications and Research

A bifurcation analysis is performed in the neighborhood of neutral stability for cross waves as a function of forcing, detuning, and viscous damping. A transition is seen from a subcritical to a supercritical bifurcation at a critical value of the detuning. The predicted hysteretic behavior is observed experimentally. A similarity scaling in the inviscid limit is also predicted. The experimentally observed bifurcation curves agree with this scaling.

Nonnegative Solutions For A Class Of Nonpositone Problems, Alfonso Castro, Ratnasingham Shivaji

All HMC Faculty Publications and Research

In the recent past many results have been established on non-negative solutions to boundary value problems of the form

-u''(x) = λf(u(x)); 0 < x < 1,

u(0) = 0 = u(1)

where λ>0, f(0)>0 (positone problems). In this paper we consider the impact on the non-negative solutions when f(0)<0. We find that we need f(u) to be convex to guarantee uniqueness of positive solutions, and f(u) to be appropriately concave for multiple positive solutions. This is in contrast to the case of positone problems, where the roles of convexity and concavity were interchanged to obtain similar results. We further establish the existence of non-negative solutions with interior zeros, which did not exist in positone problems.

Reliable Computation By Formulas In The Presence Of Noise, Nicholas Pippenger

All HMC Faculty Publications and Research

It is shown that if formulas are used to compute Boolean functions in the presence of randomly occurring failures then: (1) there is a limit strictly less than 1/2 to the failure probability per gate that can be tolerated, and (2) formulas that tolerate failures must be deeper (and, therefore, compute more slowly) than those that do not. The heart of the proof is an information-theoretic argument that deals with computation and errors in very general terms. The strength of this argument is that it applies with equal ease no matter what types of gate are available. Its weaknesses is …

On Conformal Scalar Curvature Equations In Rn, Yi Li, Wei-Ming Ni

Mathematics and Statistics Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Periodic Solutions Of Volterra Integral Equations, Muhammad Islam

Mathematics Faculty Publications

Consider the system of equations

x(t)=f(t)+∫−∞tk(t,s)x(s)ds,           (1)

and

x(t)=f(t)+∫−∞tk(t,s)g(s,x(s))ds.        (2)

Existence of continuous periodic solutions of (1) is shown using the resolvent function of the kernel k. Some important properties of the resolvent function including its uniqueness are obtained in the process. In obtaining periodic solutions of (1) it is necessary that the resolvent of k is integrable in some sense. For a scalar convolution kernel k some explicit conditions are derived to determine whether or not the resolvent of k is integrable. Finally, the existence and uniqueness of continuous periodic solutions of (1) and (2) are obtained using the …