ESP Archives: Past Classes

Pascal's Triangle is an amazing pattern which you can get from this simple rule: Starting with a 1 surrounded by zeros on both sides (written as blank spaces), let each successive number be the sum of the two numbers above it. 1 1 1 1 2 1 1 3 3 1 1 4 6 4 1 1 5 10 10 5 1 .... on forever ... Pascal's triangle is important in many areas of mathematics, and for understanding many mathematical situations. We will explore the ways in which Pascal's triangle provides us with useful information about counting and algebra. As a bonus, Pascal's Triangle itself is also very rich and interesting. There are an amazing number of relationships within the numbers of the triangle. We will uncover many of the relationships inside of Pascal's triangle and try to understand how it all fits together.

beginner knitting techniques and tricks along with how you can use your new knitting powers for good.

Something is wrong in Kansas... Americans have been falling further and further into debt for the last 20 years. Despite significant increases in the economic output of the American worker and the availability of wealth and money, wages today for the average American are lower (in real terms) than they were two generations ago. In contrast, wages for the richest Americans have been skyrocketing. Executive pay has increased nearly 500% since 1980. As a side effect, Americans are not doing so well financially. Credit card debt has soared from $200 billion in 1990 to nearly $1 trillion ($1000 billion) today. $100 billion of new credit card debt has been added in just the last year alone. While many Americans still own homes, they own less and less of their home. The average American today has paid off less than 50% of their home mortgage, compared with 70% in the 1980s. This percentage of ownership continues to decline precipitously. The debt problems of America have become so severe that they are affecting financial markets around the world and causing unprecedented chaos in the economy this year. So what is going on? How did we get into this mess? How are we going to get out? In this class, we'll talk about current theories on the problem. Highlights will include a discussion of game theory, the prisoners dilemma, and the effect of financing on markets and psychology. We will also speculate on what will happen to the US and global economy as the age of easy money comes to an end.

A field is a collection of objects upon which the standard arithmetic operations can be done: addition, multiplication, subtraction, and division. If you perform any operation on two members of a field, the result is another member of the field. You are probably already aware of two particularly nice fields: the rational numbers (fractions a/b), and the real numbers (from the number line). But there are many, many more. In this class, we'll take a look at the other types of fields which occur naturally throughout mathematics and which are very useful to mathematicians, physicists, and cryptographers. We will explore the finite fields, the algebraic number fields, and function fields. We will also talk about the tools we can use to understand fields, including: field extensions (taking a small field and building a more complicated one), subfields (breaking a field into simpler pieces), automorphism groups (finding the symmetries of a field), and algebraic closures (filling in the holes in a field).

Do you have unanswered questions about anything? (especially related to mathematics, physics, computers, the singularity, computer security, cryptography, electronics, philosophy, economics, politics, history, chemistry, biology, and/or star trek?) Ask away ! If I know the answer, I'll give it to you straight. (And if I don't, I promise I'll at least make up something plausible!)

We're going to dive right in to the most massive objects in our universe--billions of times the mass of the sun. (Note: we won't actually dive into a black hole--its hard to get out). When small stars die, they peter out. When massive stars die, they explode in supernovas, outshining an entire galaxy, and whats left is a black hole, a singularity of mass so dense that even light is trapped behind. We'll tour around a few black holes, study their effect on our daily lives, and of course, the seven ways a black hole can kill you. I'll venture into wormholes, white holes, and other extoics, and we'll even bring in a sporting interest and talk about how Stephen Hawking once lost a bet on black holes, and how it was related to the ultimate demise and even death of these most mysterious of objects. (Food for thought: how does a black hole die, anyway?) Be ready to open your minds, to be bent by the curvature of spacetime, and generally to lose yourself in the fun and beauty of the most amazing objects out there in the sky.

Hip Hop Choreography to the latest urban beats. Instructor may consider mixing salsa. If there is interest, a specialize class on Boogaloo Poppin i.e. waving, poppin (think Michael Jackson) will be given. The dance routines are technical but no experience are required. Instructor have danced extensively with Tre Hopson (Choreography), Boogaloo Poppin with Jsmooth (winner of Juste Debout 2007 and UK Championship 2006)

Learn how to make a website using just Notepad and other free software!

Using only the pythagorean theorem and very simple algebra, we will derive and explore some exciting consequences of Einstein's Theory of Special Relativity, including length contraction, time dilation, and absolute simultaneity!

Many students have only a vague notion of what it means to call a place a "developing nation". This class is an orientation to the variety and magnitude of health problems facing the poor in "third world" countries, as well as an introduction to the work that is being done there, and what we still need to do. We will focus on the nation of Haiti, often touted as the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere in modern times, but at one point the richest colony in the New World. Topics considered: -The tragedy of the commons -The relationship of poverty to health -Infectious and chronic disease -The role of industrialized nations and students in changing the shape of poverty