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Periodic sets of integers, the projective line over a ring, and evil inner-tubes
Student-Run Research| Speaker: | Alison Watson, UC Davis |
| Location: | 1147 MSB |
| Start time: | Wed, Oct 7 2026, 2:10PM |
Description
A number of mathematical curios arise quite naturally in the process of solving inverse problems of the form "express this object as the colimit (read: union) of images of certain structure preserving maps." We illustrate some concrete examples of these curios, which range from fun logic puzzles to objects of independent interest from noncommutative algebra and wildlife conservation to the subject of a longstanding open problem in combinatorics. Time permitting, we also demonstrate an identity that arises through careful consideration of these problems relating the generating functions for finite posets and finite topological spaces.