Talks

Speaker Meeting
Toby O'Neil (Open University)
"How big is the Milky Way?"
Friday 14th October 2005, 7.30,
Refreshments from 7.15
Winstanley Lecture Theatre, Trinity College

How Big is the Milky Way? Will the Universe eventually collapse? I'm going to describe how the mathematical theory of dimension gives us one way of approaching such questions, and helps us to estimate how much visible matter there is in the universe.

Speaker Meeting
John Silvester (Kings College, London)
"Computers versus pencils and paper"
Friday 28th October 2005, 7.30, CMS

Is pencil and paper better than a computer? We will see how badly computers can mislead us even in simple calculations; so should we trust them with things we can't check by hand?

Speaker Meeting
Marty Golubitsky (Houston)
"Spatio-temporal Symmetries and Animal Gaits"
Friday 11th November 2005, 7.30, CMS

Many quadruped gaits can be described by spatio-temporal symmetries. For example, when a horse paces it moves both left legs in unison and then both right legs and so on. The motion is described by two symmetries: Interchange front and back legs, and swap left and right legs with a half-period phase shift.

In this lecture we discuss how periodic solutions with prescribed spatio-temporal symmetry can be formed in symmetric systems; construct a central pattern generator architecture (structured system of ODEs) that naturally produces many quadrupedal gait rhythms; and make several testable predictions about gaits.

Speaker Meeting
Frank Berkshire (Imperial College, London)
"The dynamics of sharps and flats"
Friday 25th November 2005, 7.30, CMS

This talk is NOT intended for those of a musical bent, but for those who might be tempted to gamble in the hope of making a small fortune. Of course the easiest way to do this is to start with a large fortune.... However, this talk IS intended to provide some instruction in the ways by which gambling odds may be slanted unfairly to the profit of the card sharp or dice mechanic, at the considerable expense of the innocent and or unwary.

Social

CUSU Freshers' Fair
3rd-4th October 2005
Kelsey Kerridge

Freshers' Buffet Lunch/Squash
Thursday 6th October 2005, 12.00
St. Columbas Hall, Downing Place
Follow the scarf after your first pair of lectures to our squash, where you'll find refreshments, cheap books for your first year, old copies of Eureka and lots of friendly Committee members. Sign up for our Society!

Puzzles Hunt
Sunday 16th October, 2pm
Location: TBC
Run around solving problems against the clock! You'll write a mathematical story (the best of which will be published in Eureka), and have the chance to win some very random prizes.

Puzzles and Games Ring
Every Saturday (from 22nd October), 2pm
Room S5, King's main
Our games subgroup is now up and running again! Come along to play any of a variety of games, including various bcard games, Othello, Backgammon, Tripples, Mensa, Chess, Draughts, Fibonacci, Cirrondo, The Viking Game, Go, Risk and Icehouse games; or bring your own!

Laserquest against the Physics Society
Wednesday 26th October, 6.30pm
Laserquest, Bradwell's Court
Details still to be confirmed, but CUPS [new window] have issued us with a challenge, so we're looking forward to frying them at Laserquest.

MathSci Really Stunning Dinner
Saturday 26th November, 7.30pm
Emmanuel College
Together with several Cambridge Science Societies, we will be celebrating Christmas in style with a three course dinner, and wine provided. [Details] [new window].