Presentations – Math 201, Fall 2022, Sections F02/03

The last two days of classes (Th. Dec. 1 and Tu. Dec. 6) will be devoted to 5-minute in-class
presentations on applications of linear algebra.
Goals: The goals of the presentation are:
● to practice your presentation skills;
● to learn to research about technical topics: finding information, processing, selecting,
and organizing;
● to place linear algebra in a wider context, in particular in terms of its applications
to other areas of mathematics and other fields of knowledge.

Topic: You will present on a specific application of linear algebra. You will talk about the
specific result/tool from linear algebra and how it gets applied.
Logistics:
● The presentations will take place the last week of classes (specific schedule will be
set the week before).
● Each presentation should be 5 minutes long.
● Visual aids are useful. For a 5-minute talk, writing as you go on the board is probably
ambitious, but it can be done (with a lot of practice). I recommend using slides (4
slides maximum).
● Each student is expected to practice their talk with me ahead of the in-class presen-
tation.
● You will be asked to peer-review 3 of the presentations of your classmates (instruc-
tions and logistics for this will be given later).

Presentation proposal

Due: Wednesday, November 16, 2022 at 11:59pm.

Please write a proposal (1-ish page, typed) that includes:
(a) The specific application, including the field of knowledge (for example, “Counting cycles
on a graph—combinatorics”).
(b) The topic(s) within linear algebra that are used in the application (for example, “di-
agonalization”).
(c) Two outside references (e.g. not the book) that you will use.
(d) A second-choice topic (references are good, but not required).
(e) Tell me if you have a preference between Dec. 1 and Dec. 6, and if so, why. (I will do
what I can to prioritize preferences, but otherwise dates will be assigned randomly.)
If you are having trouble coming up with topics, I recommend doing the following:
● search the internet,
● peruse the book,
● talk to me, and
● talk to your professors in other areas (statistics, computer science, physics, chemistry,
biology, economics, linguistics, . . .).