Linear Algebra and Optimization Seminar

This quarter's LA/Opt seminars are in Green Earth Sciences, Rm 131.  Seminars are on Thursdays starting at 4:30pm and usually ending by 5:30, although we have the room until 5:50.

The seminars are mostly about computational mathematics (otherwise known as scientific computing).  Topics include matrix computations, solution of linear or nonlinear equations, optimization of functions subject to constraints, or applications that need such methods.  Speakers are students or faculty from around the university, researchers in government labs, practitioners from industry, or visitors from near or far.

Often we hear of the latest research.  Sometimes we hear fascinating history.  Attendees come to listen, learn, comment, or ask questions.

Summary of 1 seminar: Students may receive 1 unit of credit for attending as many seminars as they are able (an attendance sheet is circulated each week), and for writing a summary of 1 seminar. In Files, see summary.tex and summary.pdf as templates.  You should answer questions of the following kind:

• What was the the general topic?
• Which mathematical problem was considered?  If possible, state the problem algebraically.
• Why is it of interest or use?
• If a new approach is described, what are the key new features?
• Are there promising future research directions?

Keep in mind that we always learn something from seminars, and sometimes it can change your life!

Aim to send me a PDF of your summary a week or two after your chosen seminar.  Ideally use LaTeX as mentioned above and email me the resulting PDF as an attachment (saunders@stanford.edu).  If you prefer to use Word, please export to PDF first.  Thank you.

Dinner afterward: A small group of attendees usually takes the speaker to dinner on campus at CoHo or Treehouse (occasionally elsewhere).  We welcome the company of anyone who would like to talk more with the speaker.  Registered students are especially welcome at least a few times each quarter.