Math Encounters — Online:

"Patterns in Permutations: the hidden and surprising structures that emerge from ordered lists" with Lara Pudwell

Wednesday, June 2 at 7:00 pm ET (New York)

A "permutation" is a list where order matters.  Despite this humble definition, permutations offer a wealth of beautiful mathematics that can be applied across scientific disciplines.  Starting simply, with small ordered lists, mathematician Lara Pudwell demonstrates how smaller permutations can be embedded into larger permutations.  The results are both unexpected and delightful — not only do some familiar patterns suddenly appear, but this embedding gives rise to a host of interesting counting problems with connections not just to mathematics, but to computer science, chemistry, and more.

Special introduction by Dr. Jennifer Quinn, Professor of Mathematics, University of Washington Tacoma, and President, Mathematical Association of America.

This is a live-streamed event.  Occasional video recordings are made available for a fee at videos.momath.org.

This page is for the 7:00 pm ET (New York) session.  Click here to register for the 4:00 pm ET (New York) session instead.

By registering for a Math Encounters presentation, you agree that you may be photographed or videotaped by Museum staff and associates.

Math Encounters is MoMath's popular free public presentation series celebrating the spectacular world of mathematics, produced with support from the Simons Foundation.

For further information, call the National Museum of Mathematics at 212-542-0566 or email mathencounters@momath.org.

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