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USC Women in Mathematics Group

Charlotte’s Web is a group for women and non-binary people interested in mathematics at USC. Every semester we have research lunches, invited speakers and social activities.

Please e-mail women.in.math.usc@gmail.com to be added to our contact list.

The purpose of the group is to enhance mentoring and networking possibilities for women and non-binary people at USC who are interested in mathematics and thereby increase the likelihood of these people staying in the field. We also wish to raise awareness of the contributions of women to mathematics and ensure that those who are interested in mathematics have a sense that they belong in the mathematical community, have role models in the community, and have an understanding of the variety of ways in which they can contribute to the community. We are affiliated with the Association for Women in Mathematics (AWM) as a student chapter. This gives free membership to students and offers visibility as well as networking opportunities.

Lynn Scow, CSU San Bernardino, April 19, 2024 1:30 PM

Lynn Scow, CSU San Bernardino, Friday, April 19, 2024 1:30-2:30 PM

Location:KAP 245

Title: What is the minimum number of colors needed to solve our puzzle?

Abstract: A “graph” is a collection of two kinds of objects which we call “points” and “edges.” An edge is a connection between two points, which we can represent by drawing a line segment between the two points. For example, we could define one point for each student committee on your campus, and then decide that two committees are “connected” if there is a student who sits on both committees. Now, suppose we are trying to schedule committee meetings using as few hour-long time slots as possible. We could phrase this problem as requiring a coloring of the points (red, blue, green…) such that connected points receive different colors (where each color represents a time slot).

In this talk, I will bring up a few abstract graph-coloring puzzles such as this. Tools from logic can be helpful to analyze these puzzles. Some of the puzzles we will solve together, and some will be left to you!