Hello Math Students and all interested parties:

Please join us for the weekly Mathematics Colloquium

Thursday, January 28, 2016 4 p.m. BSS 166

"Optimization inspired by biology: parameter fitting using the genetic algorithm"

Dr. Bori Mazzag, HSU Mathematics Department

Some of the most interesting (and challenging) applied mathematics problems can be phrased as optimization questions. Most calculus students are familiar with problems about finding the dimensions of a fence of a given length enclosing the largest area but they may not have heard about using optimization in air traffic control or predicting protein folding. Various optimization algorithms exist. A relatively new method (developed in the 1970's), called “genetic algorithm (GA)” is inspired by the biological idea of natural selection. In this talk, Dr. Mazzag will describe the GA method and demonstrate its use in finding parameters that minimize the error between data and the solution of a differential equation.

Don't forget coffee, tea and goodies at the Pre-Colloquium Tea at 3:30 p.m. in the 3rd Floor Open Area in the BSS building.

For the complete abstract, please go to http://www.humboldt.edu/math/news-and-events/math-colloquium