Robert Lang speaks about mathematical origami design

by Nicholas Neumann-Chun

Friday morning (the 15th) I was privileged to hear several talks on the mathematics of origami, including one by (my personal hero) Robert Lang.  Since early childhood I have been fascinated by origami, influenced primarily by my mother.  Only recently have I discovered that origami is a serious mathematical discipline!

The talks were about different areas of mathematical origami.  Lang talked very directly about how the art of origami is related to, and feeds off of, mathematics.  Traditionally, the two have had little overlap.  But starting in the mid-20th century, said Lang, there was a renaissance in the art of origami that made it possible for mathematicians to become involved.  Akira Yoshizawa took the ancient craft of origami and, among other things, introduced a standard folding notation.  This allowed artists to share and build upon their designs and ideas, and led to unprecedented advances in complexity and intricacy of origami models.

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by Nicholas Neumann-Chun

Professor Bressoud talks about the MAA, mathematical careers, and teaching mathematics.

After a couple of talks this morning, one technical and incomprehensible, one unexpectedly mind-opening – more about this later – I got to sit down with MAA President David Bressoud.

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Talks by Wilkinson, Harris, Stanley, Blum, Bhargava, Shor on Wednesday.

by Nicholas Neumann-Chun

I am now one full day of math lectures older.  The invited addresses are fairly accessible; that is, they’re aimed at a large audience (quite literally!).  That doesn’t mean I understood all, or even most, of what was said, but I was able to engage in bits of the six talks I saw throughout the day.  I’ll try to give a feeling for my immediate reactions to each of these talks.

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