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- 10-11-09 Professor Crawford wins VU Dancing with the Stars10-7-09 Congratulations to Rick Gillman for his new book "Models of Conflict and Cooperation"9-15-09 Dr. Andrea Huszti, U of Debrecen, Hungary, gives lecture9-8-09 Akos Pinter, U of Debrecen Guest Speaker8-5-09 MathFest Conference-Portland, Oregon8-3-09 Shane Drew Awarded Project NExT Fellow7-15-09 Hughes Prize Winners 7-13-09 Ass't Prof. Lara Pudwell presents paper in Florence, Italy5-20-09 David Hull appointed Senior Research Professor5-15-09 2009 Nagel Prize Winner4-20-09 David Hull Presentation-Badajoz, Spain4-16-09 Math & Computer Science Awards Dinner3-23-09 Math Students Present Research at Conferences 3-13-09 Lara Pudwell Awarded AWN-NSF Grant2-11-09 Mathcounts Competition1-3-09 Faculty Active at Joint Math Meetings11-4-08 Do Dogs Know Calculus? Presentation by Tim Penning10-25-08/3-1-08 Faculty, Students, Travel to Conferences10-11-08 Award Winning Alumnus Dan Kuznik Gives Presentation10-9-08 Kate (Dueringer) Goodman '978-15-08 Gillman Elected Chair MAA Committee on Sections8-8-08 Faculty Busy at MathFest7-31-08 NICTE Grant Awarded to Desjarlais5-3-08 Hughes Mathematics Competition4-8-08 Crawford Presents on 'Student Response Systems'3-26-08 David Housman - Presentation On Game Theory 3-15-08 Putnam Competition Results Announced
- DO DOGS KNOW CALCULUS? BIFURCATIONS AT THE BEACH
Tim Penning, Associate Professor of Mathematics, Hope College
We will show that dogs - at least my dog, Elvis - knows calculus. That is, Elvis can find the optimal, fastest route to a ball thrown into the water some distance down the beach. But what happens when Elvis is positioned in the water and retrieves a ball that is also in the water? When should he swim straight to the ball, and when should he swim into the shore, run along the shore, and then swim back out to the ball? What is the bifurcation point for the change in optimal strategy? Does Elvis bifurcate? Does his fur bicate?
Dr. Elvis (he has an honorary doctorate degree) will be in the building demonstrating that he is indeed the King of Calculus - and much more than a hound dog.
11:50 a.m. Tuesday, November 4, 2008, in GEM 230.