Undergraduate Colloquium: Chris Moseley (Calvin College)

When:
March 5, 2015 @ 3:00 pm – 4:00 pm
2015-03-05T15:00:00-10:00
2015-03-05T16:00:00-10:00

Speaker: Chris Moseley (Calvin College)

Title: Rotations and the Fourth Dimension

Abstract: we are familiar with the idea of a fourth dimension, as in Einstein’s Special Theory of Relativity. However, the first thorough mathematical exploration of the fourth dimension predates Einstein by 60 years! In this colloquium we will see how the mathematician William Hamilton “jumped… into a fourth dimension” (his words) as he discovered quaternions, 4-dimensional numbers that are used today in the control of spacecraft and the programming behind 3D graphics in computer games.