So you would like to work as my PhD student?
We are excited to offer a PhD in Mathematical Modelling and Methods in the Mathematics Department at Ryerson University starting in September 2016! It was long struggle to mount the program, owing to the backlog for new graduate programs in Ontario. With a recent break in that dam, we now are pleased to offer a…
The geometry of social networks
A key insight of general relativity is the view of the universe as a four-dimensional geometric space. Gravitation and other forces within physics are explained as properties of the geometry. Analogously, string theory includes many dimensions, as many as ten or more, in an effort to explain all the forces of the universe. Given the geometry…
Memes are hard to spread: a mathematical model
A meme is a thought or action or behaviour that spreads in a social network. Memes are pervasive now with the abundance of on-line social media, ranging from fads like the ice bucket challenge, to popular gifs or sayings. The Big Bang Theory hilariously took on the topic of memes in the following clip. Network scientists have…
The golden ratio, Fibonacci numbers, and independent sets in graphs
Mathematics was once again in the news recently, when a high school student Joseph Rosenfield discovered an error in the expression for the golden ratio in the Museum of Science in Boston. This is the photo that Joseph took in the museum: The “error” was the negative sign in the expression of the golden ratio. In…