SILESIAN SCIENTISTS' NIGHT 2010 IN THE INSTITUTE OF MATHEMATICS OF THE SILESIAN UNIVERSITY IN KATOWICE

(You can also download the schedule in a printable version.)

LECTURES:
(taking place in Aula Kopernika (room no. 213) in the Institute of Mathematics SU)

17.00-18.00 mgr Łukasz Dawidowski: How did our parents, grandparents count?
Today, with calculators being primary calculating devices, it's hard to imagine a world without computers. During this short presentation participants will learn about development of calculating techniques throughout the ages, from the simplest antic systems to the abacus and slide-rule.

18.00-18.30 dr Żywilla Fechner: How can one measure the risk?
We will be interested mainly in the risk concerning our finances. We know intuitively, that shares are more risky than debentures. We base our intuitions on certain experience from the past. However, some surprises may occur, for example debentures are not so sure if we invested in ones from Greece or Iceland. It is not possible to eliminate risk completely. One can, however, try to measure it. Such measures are applied in practice by various financial institutions. Appropriate assessment of risk is required in banking services. During the presentation we will take a look on various risk measures used by banks. We will try to answer the quesion, how are the risks concerning our savings measured and are these measures of any good.

18.30-19.00 mgr Grzegorz Bartosz: About a certain recursive problem
The talk will concern the Collatz hipothesis, an open mathematical problem, which on the first glance appears to be a mediocre task, which a clever secondary school student would be able to solve. The history of the problemm will be discussed and the correctness of it will be shown for certain parameters. Apparently correct proofs of the hipothesis will be shown, along with their hidden mistakes and some (correct) results giving partial answers to the question at hand.

19.15-20.15 prof. Maciej Sablik, Dean of the Faculty of Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry SU: Financial pyramid, e.g. how to defend your money
The presentation will open with a short prelection concerning financial mathematics, after which the participants will have an opportunity to learn about the financial market's mechanisms. Next, the participants will test their newly acquired knowledge in practice.

WORKSHOPS:

17.00-22.00 Piotr Idzik, Mateusz Jurczyński: Fractals (starting hourly, room no. 221)
Nowadays we observe a growing interest in fractals and their visualisations. During this workshop the participants will learn, what the fractals really are. The ways of creating both simple and the more complicated fractals will be presented, along with visualisations of those most beautiful. The listeners will be able to participate in the creation of fractals and in some competitions.

17.00-22.00 Jolanta Marzec, Marek Biedrzycki: Encryption (starting hourly, room no. 429)
During this workshop the participants will face the most popular ciphers and they will try to read an enciphered letter themselves. They will be introduced to the world of cryptography and learn the most typical ways of deciphering an encrypted text.

17.00-22.00 Aleksandra Urban with Rafał Besowski, Anna Jacek and Anita Sendor: Jigsaws & Puzzles (continuous workshop (you can enter anytime), room no. 208)
Free the ring, Do a cartwheel, Free the heart. These aren't quotes from The Lord of the Rings, exercises from PE classes or song titles, but the tasks from the Jigsaws & Puzzles workshop. Hands and brains will be bent by various manual tasks (wire and wooden ones, luck cubes), and when the fingers start to hurt, one can relax in front of a Sudoku, Cryptarythm, Algebraph and many more. The workshop is addressed mainly to the younger participants (primary, secondary and fresh high school students). However, all aged 4 to 125 are welcome to join :).

17.00-22.00 mgr Wojciech Bielas with Joanna Frej, Beata Łojan and Joanna Zwierzyńska: The Scotch Cafe(continuous workshop (you can enter anytime), room no. 211)
The Scotch Cafe is a legendary place of meetings of a group of Polish mathematicians in Lwow (in particular Stefan Banach, Stanisław Ulam or Stanisław Mazur). During their long meetings they solved mathematical problems, which they would write on table tops and in a special book (called later the Scotch Book). For solving some of the tasks various rewards were given, like geese. During this workshop we would like to restore the climate of that interwar cafe, in which young mathematicians would talk about mathematics and solve their problems on table tops. Here it will also be possible to buy delicious cakes, drinks and small souvenirs for the PIn money acquired at other workshops.

last update: 05.12.2010