A Matter of Gravity

Event Detail

Event type: Lonseth Lecture
Date/Time: 05/11/2004-12:00   

Speaker info

Speaker: Steven G. Krantz, Washington University in St. Louis

Abstract:
It is a standard topic in any multivariable calculus course to develop the concept of "centroid" or "center of gravity", and to teach the student to calculate this center. Rarely is there any further investigation into properties of the center of gravity. Nonetheless, there are interesting questions about the center of gravity that could have been asked three hundred years ago, but evidently were not addressed until recently. We consider some new features and properties of the concept of center of gravity. Both topological and geometrical aspects will be examined. Stability results are proved.