Math and Politics Talk

Posted by on April 18, 2003

On Tuesday, April 22, at 7:00 pm, John Allen Paulos will be speaking at University of Pennsylvania’s Meyerson Hall (34th and Walnut, southwest corner, room B1).

Dr. Paulos is a professor at Temple University, and is the author of many popular books on mathematics in society, including “Innumeracy,” “A Mathematician Reads the Newspaper,” and the forthcoming “A Mathematician Plays the Stock Market.” He is also a regular columnist for ABCNews.com.

His talk is being sponsored by Pi Mu Epsilon, the undergraduate mathematics honor society, and funded by SPEC Connaissance and the Department of Mathematics. Refreshments will be provided.

Dr. Paulos’ description of the talk follows:
“Because mathematical naivete can put people at a disadvantage in thinking about many topical issues that seem on the surface not to involve mathematics at all, it will investigate the mathematical aspects of news stories and, in the process, attempt to provide some oblique perspectives and novel ideas. A variety of stories will be treated, some of them old, some new. Among the latter will be the Iraq war, the Total Information Awareness Program, and traditional politics. No mathematical background will be required or assumed.”