Brian Kernighan: Millions, Billions, Zillions -- (In)numeracy Still Matters PDF - February 3, 2010
Lunch 'n Learn presentation: As calculators and computers have become steadily more powerful, they have buried us in an avalanche of numbers and graphs and charts, many of which claim to present the truth about important issues. But at the same time, our personal facility with numbers has diminished, often leaving us at the mercy of quantitative reasoning and presentation that is sometimes wrong and often not disinterested.
For the past ten years, Dr. Kernighan has been teaching a course that s
Freshman Assembly: Neuroscience and Everyday Life
On Sunday, September 12, Samuel Wang, Associate Professor of Neuroscience and Molecular Biology, addressed the Class of 2014 for the annual freshman assembly on the subject of "Neuroscience and Everyday Life."
Professor Wang offered the following introduction to his lecture:
"Our brains are essential to every aspect of our everyday lives, even though we are often not aware of it. The last few decades have been an incredible time of discovery and new understanding of brain function from a medi
Freshman Assembly: Neuroscience and Everyday Life
On Sunday, September 12, Samuel Wang, Associate Professor of Neuroscience and Molecular Biology, addressed the Class of 2014 for the annual freshman assembly on the subject of "Neuroscience and Everyday Life."
Professor Wang offered the following introduction to his lecture:
"Our brains are essential to every aspect of our everyday lives, even though we are often not aware of it. The last few decades have been an incredible time of discovery and new understanding of brain function from a medi
Freshman Assembly: Neuroscience and Everyday Life
On Sunday, September 12, Samuel Wang, Associate Professor of Neuroscience and Molecular Biology, addressed the Class of 2014 for the annual freshman assembly on the subject of "Neuroscience and Everyday Life."
Professor Wang offered the following introduction to his lecture:
"Our brains are essential to every aspect of our everyday lives, even though we are often not aware of it. The last few decades have been an incredible time of discovery and new understanding of brain function from a medi
Freshman Assembly: Neuroscience and Everyday Life
On Sunday, September 12, Samuel Wang, Associate Professor of Neuroscience and Molecular Biology, addressed the Class of 2014 for the annual freshman assembly on the subject of "Neuroscience and Everyday Life."
Professor Wang offered the following introduction to his lecture:
"Our brains are essential to every aspect of our everyday lives, even though we are often not aware of it. The last few decades have been an incredible time of discovery and new understanding of brain function from a medi
08 - Nash equilibrium: location, segregation and randomization
We first complete our discussion of the candidate-voter model showing, in particular, that, in equilibrium, two candidates cannot be too far apart. Then we play and analyze Schelling's location game. We discuss how segregation can occur in society even if no one desires it. We also learn that seemingly irrelevant details of a model can matter. We consider randomizations first by a central authority (such as in a bussing policy), and then decentralized randomization by the individuals themselves,
04 - Introduction to Plato's Phaedo; Arguments for the existence of the soul, Part II
After a brief introduction to Plato's Phaedo, more arguments are offered in this lecture in defense of the existence of an immaterial soul. The emphasis here is on the fact that we need to believe in the existence of a soul in order to explain the claim that we possess free will. This is an argument dualists use as an objection to the physicalists: since no merely physical entity could have free will, there must be more to us than just being a physical object.
16 - Paradise I, II
Professor Mazzotta introduces students to Paradiso. The Ptolemaic structure of Dante’s cosmos is described together with the arts and sciences associated with its spheres. Beatrice’s role as teacher in Dante’s cosmological journey is distinguished from that of her successor, St. Bernard of Clairvaux. An introduction to Dante’s third and final guide to the Beatific Vision helps situate the poetics of Paradiso vis-à -vis the mystical tradition. Professor Mazzotta’s introduction to th
01 - Introduction
Professor Mazzotta introduces students to the general scheme and scope of the Divine Comedy and to the life of its author. Various genres to which the poem belongs (romance, epic, vision) are indicated, and special attention is given to its place within the encyclopedic tradition. The poem is then situated historically through an overview of Dante's early poetic and political careers and the circumstances that led to his exile. Professor Mazzotta concludes by discussing the central role Dante
20 - Wartime Reconstruction: Imagining the Aftermath and a Second American Republic
This lecture begins with a central, if often overlooked, turning point in the Civil War--the re-election of Abraham Lincoln in 1864. Although the concerted efforts of northern Peace Democrats and a palpable war weariness among the electorate made Lincoln's victory uncertain, timely Union victories in Atlanta and Mobile in September of 1864 secured Lincoln's re-election in November. This lecture concludes Professor Blight's section on the war, following Lee and Grant to Appomattox Courthouse, and
Lecture 36: Review
Introduction to chemistry, with emphasis on basic principles of atomic and molecular electronic structure, thermodynamics, acid-base and redox equilibria, chemical kinetics, and catalysis. Introduction to the chemistry of biological, inorganic, and organic molecules.
Lecture 35: Kinetics: Catalysis
Introduction to chemistry, with emphasis on basic principles of atomic and molecular electronic structure, thermodynamics, acid-base and redox equilibria, chemical kinetics, and catalysis. Introduction to the chemistry of biological, inorganic, and organic molecules.
Lecture 34: Kinetics (cont.)
Introduction to chemistry, with emphasis on basic principles of atomic and molecular electronic structure, thermodynamics, acid-base and redox equilibria, chemical kinetics, and catalysis. Introduction to the chemistry of biological, inorganic, and organic molecules.
Lecture 33: Kinetics (cont.)
Introduction to chemistry, with emphasis on basic principles of atomic and molecular electronic structure, thermodynamics, acid-base and redox equilibria, chemical kinetics, and catalysis. Introduction to the chemistry of biological, inorganic, and organic molecules.
Lecture 32: Kinetics (cont.)
Introduction to chemistry, with emphasis on basic principles of atomic and molecular electronic structure, thermodynamics, acid-base and redox equilibria, chemical kinetics, and catalysis. Introduction to the chemistry of biological, inorganic, and organic molecules.
Lecture 31: Kinetics
Introduction to chemistry, with emphasis on basic principles of atomic and molecular electronic structure, thermodynamics, acid-base and redox equilibria, chemical kinetics, and catalysis. Introduction to the chemistry of biological, inorganic, and organic molecules.
Lecture 30: Transition Metals
Introduction to chemistry, with emphasis on basic principles of atomic and molecular electronic structure, thermodynamics, acid-base and redox equilibria, chemical kinetics, and catalysis. Introduction to the chemistry of biological, inorganic, and organic molecules.
Lecture 29: The Shapes of Molecules: VSEPR Theory
Introduction to chemistry, with emphasis on basic principles of atomic and molecular electronic structure, thermodynamics, acid-base and redox equilibria, chemical kinetics, and catalysis. Introduction to the chemistry of biological, inorganic, and organic molecules.
Lecture 28: Transition Metals: Crystal Field Theory
Introduction to chemistry, with emphasis on basic principles of atomic and molecular electronic structure, thermodynamics, acid-base and redox equilibria, chemical kinetics, and catalysis. Introduction to the chemistry of biological, inorganic, and organic molecules.
Lecture 27: Transition Metals
Introduction to chemistry, with emphasis on basic principles of atomic and molecular electronic structure, thermodynamics, acid-base and redox equilibria, chemical kinetics, and catalysis. Introduction to the chemistry of biological, inorganic, and organic molecules.
