This week, on a very special Math/Stats Colloquium, we are proud to present John de Pillis (UC Riverside) on “Linear Algebra as a Natural Language for Special Relativity and Its Paradoxes”.  Using basic linear algebra and original animations, while assuming very little knowledge of physics, we present a novel derivation of the Lorentz transformation.  Through the geometry of Minkowski diagrams, we analyze properties and paradoxes of special relativity, such as the Twin Paradox, in which one twin leaves Earth in a fast rocket ship and returns to Earth after 50 years having aged only 30 years, and the Bug-Rivet Paradox, in which relativity can cause time reversal in the sense that effect occurs before cause.

Background: One course in linear algebra.

• Date: Fri Oct 14
• Time: 2:30-3:20pm
• Room: MH320
• Snacks: 2:00pm in MH331B

For more information, click here to see the full flyer, suitable for printing and posting.

Hope to see you there!

Upcoming events:

• Fri Oct 21: Wesley Maciejewski, SJSU
  “Mathematical Foresight: Thinking in the Future to Work in the Present”
• Fri Oct 28: Yan Zhang, SJSU
  “Voting Theory ‘Theorems’ and Misapplied Math”