| What | Austin Chapter of INFORMS October Meeting |
| Where | The University of Texas Austin McCombs School of Business (GSB) Corner of Speedwas and 21st Street (across from main library and Gregory Gym) GSB 3.130 |
| When |
Thursday, Oct 25th, 6:30pm |
| Speaker |
Bobby R. Treat, PhD. |
6:30 - 7:00 Refreshments and Networking
7:00 - 8:30 Stupid Mathematica Tricks: Recreation, Insight and
Discovery
Speaker: Bobby R. Treat, PhD
Senior Personnel Policy Analyst, Science Applications International Corporation
For two years I've been exploring the use of various tools in the classroom, including MathCAD, Minitab, Scientific Workplace, and --- more recently --- Mathematica. The interactive Mathematica environment offers an experienced user the opportunity to make difficult mathematical concepts come alive. Realizing that potential is difficult, and there are questions about how well students may respond, but powerful tools are now in place that most professionals are still unaware of.
Graphical solution of linear programming problems can be animated, for instance. Simplex Tableaus can be generated with minimal code. Symbolic differentiation and integration, Laplace Transforms, matrix algebra, and thousands of other mathematical tasks are now almost as simple as calculator arithmetic.
In addition to its use in the classroom, Mathematica can help immensely in exploring analytical ideas in our professional life.
Dr. Treat will share examples with the group, and will be interested in a discussion of how such tools might be used (and not abused).