# CARMA Colloquium

## Thursday, 20th May 2021

(Location to be decided)

Joint presentation with AustMS/AMSI lunchtime seminar series

Join via Zoom

# Emma Zbarsky

(Wentworth Institute of Technology)

# Conversation as Assessment

As educators, we need to assess our students for a variety of reasons from the mundane requirement to submit ranked scores to the arcane desire to encourage and track learning. I have developed my approach to oral examinations for undergraduate students in an attempt to support collaborative analysis of my student's understanding, as well as an opportunity for growth and discovery right up to the final moments of a course. I will present my experiences using oral assessments both alone and in combination with written work in multivariable calculus with mid-level students, in partial differential equations with upper-level students, and in introductory calculus with first-year students.

# Symmetry in Newcastle

## Monday, 24th May 2021

Schedule (Zoom):

16.30-17.30: Libor Barto
17.30-18.00: Break
18.00-19.00: Zoé Chatzidakis

# Prof Zoé Chatzidakis

(Département de Mathématiques et Applications, ENS Paris)

# A new invariant for difference fields

If $(K,f)$ is a difference field, and $a$ is a finite tuple in some difference field extending $K$, and such that $f(a)$ in $K(a)^{\mathrm{alg}}$, then we define $dd(a/K)=lim[K(f^k(a),a):K(a)]^{1/k}$, the distant degree of $a$ over $K$. This is an invariant of the difference field extension $K(a)^{\mathrm{alg}}/K$. We show that there is some $b$ in the difference field generated by $a$ over $K$, which is equi-algebraic with $a$ over $K$, and such that $dd(a/K)=[K(f(b),b):K(b)]$, i.e.: for every $k>0$, $f(b)$ in $K(b,f^k(b))$. Viewing $Aut(K(a)^{\mathrm{alg}}/K)$ as a locally compact group, this result is connected to results of Goerge Willis on scales of automorphisms of locally compact totally disconnected groups. I will explicit the correspondence between the two sets of results. (Joint with E. Hrushovski)

# A/Prof Libor Barto

(Department of Mathematics, Charles University)

# CSPs and Symmetries

How difficult is it to solve a given computational problem? In a large class of computational problems, including the fixed-template Constraint Satisfaction Problems (CSPs), this fundamental question has a simple and beautiful answer: the more symmetrical the problem is, the easier is to solve it. The tight connection between the complexity of a CSP and a certain concept that captures its symmetry has fueled much of the progress in the area in the last 20 years. I will talk about this connection and some of the many tools that have been used to analyze the symmetries. The tools involve rather diverse areas of mathematics including algebra, analysis, combinatorics, logic, probability, and topology.

# Indigenising University Mathematics

## Monday, 20th Sep 2021 — Tuesday, 21st Sep 2021

Birabahn building of the Wollotuka Institute

Register now at Eventbrite

This national and international two-day symposium will address the pressing challenge of how to Indigenise mathematical practice at Universities, both in education and research. The methodology is of collaboration and sharing of knowledge and worldviews from within both Indigenous cultures and the cultures of mathematics and its allied disciplines.

The symposium will be organised around a collection of interconnected themes, each chaired by a partnership of Indigenous and non-Indigenous practitioners. These include: Indigenous Mathematics, Re-imagining the living present, Traditional Knowledge, Country, Language and Oral Traditions, and Love and Pedagogy. The symposium will also launch a call for contributions to a book on the same topic.

The physical location of this blended face to face and online symposium is significant. The Birabahn building of the Wollotuka Institute blends indoor and outdoor spaces, inviting new perspectives, whilst also having the capabilities for an international video-linked conference.

Speakers:

• Associate Professor Kathryn Butler of the Bundjalung and Worimi people, Director of the Wollotuka Institute, University of Newcastle
• Miss Tammy Small, student advancement manager, Wollotuka Institute, University of Newcastle
• Dr Henry Fowler of the Navajo people, Diné College, Tsaile, Arizona
• Associate Professor Edward Doolittle of the Mohawk people from Six Nations in southern Ontario, First Nations University of Canada
• Mr Dan Collins of the Worimi/Biripi nation, Yapug program convener, Wollotuka Institute, University of Newcastle
• Mr Nathan Towney of the Wiradjuri people from Wellington in NSW, Pro Vice Chancellor Indigenous Strategy and Leadership, University of Newcastle
• Dr Michael Donovan of the Gumbaynggir people, Macquarie University, Australia
• Mr Jade Kennedy, of the Yuin people of the Illawarra and South Coast of NSW, University of Wollongong
• Professor Rowena Ball, ANU
• Professor Mark Maclean, UBC
• Dr Veselin Jungic, Simon Fraser University
• Dr Naomi Borwein, Western Ontario University (ECR)
• Miss Jo-Ann Larkins, Federation University (ECR)
• Miss Amber Hughes, University of Newcastle (ECR)
• Dr Maureen Edwards, Wollongong University