Math Colloquium: Charles Morris and Shannon Segin

On Friday, February 12, students Charles Morris and Shannon Segin will deliver their capstone Math 499 presentations.  Join us at 3:30pm in GEM 120.

Shannon Segin, Yahtzee as a Discrete Time Markov Chain
Markov Chains are a brilliant use of mathematics when looking to model stochastic processes, and they have numerous applications and uses that span across many fields. This talk will provide a brief introduction to Markov Chains, dive into some of their applications and uses, and investigate how Markov Chains can be used to model Yahtzee, the well known dice throwing game.
Chuck Morris, Increasing Survivability in a Zombie Epidemic
Once the zombie epidemic has begun, it is not clear which strategy a person or community should adopt to confront the threat. Is it better to run and hide, confront the ghouls gun in hand or keep on with our regular workaday lives? An epidemiological model is constructed to explore this possibility. The living humans are divided into three classes: workers, militia, and moles. These populations change according to the number of zombies, and also the quantity of food and supplies available to the humans. A number of scenarios are explored to gain insight into how the populations interact over time.