The Role of Mathematics in

Society
Gordon Erlebacher
Florida State University
Tallahassee, FL

Aug. 13, 2002 Universidad de las Americas, Pueblo,

MX
 Mathematics
• Discipline is one of rigor and logic
• Establish one or more hypothesis within an
existing framework
• Through a series of logical deductions,
prove some statement

Aug. 13, 2002 Universidad de las Americas, Pueblo,

MX
 Example
• Fermat’s last theorem
x y z
n n n

only has solutions (x,y,z in Z for n=2)

Aug. 13, 2002 Universidad de las Americas, Pueblo,

MX
 What is Society
• Collection of human beings subject to a set
of laws within a dynamic framework
• These laws are often not self-consistent
• The laws change in time
• These laws prevent total anarchy

Aug. 13, 2002 Universidad de las Americas, Pueblo,

MX
 Objectives of Society

Improve the human condition

Aug. 13, 2002 Universidad de las Americas, Pueblo,

MX
 Trends in Society
• Wealth accumulation
• Longer life expectancy, better health
• Accomplish more with less
• Better communication
• Better infrastructure
• Higher safety
• Population security
Aug. 13, 2002 Universidad de las Americas, Pueblo,
MX
 Traditional Mathematics
• Pure Mathematics
– Abstract algebra
– Topology
– Number theory
– Symbolic computation
• Applied Mathematics
– Optimization theory
– Asymptotic theory
– Transform theory (Fourier, Hilbert, wavelet, etc.)
– Numerical methods

Aug. 13, 2002 Universidad de las Americas, Pueblo,

MX
 Alternate Viewpoint
Pure Mathematics
Has no applications

Shifting Boundary

Has applications

Applied Mathematics

Aug. 13, 2002 Universidad de las Americas, Pueblo,

MX
 Modeling of Natural Phenomena
Mathematical Modeling

Physical Modeling

Numerical Modeling

Uncertainty Modeling

Analysis

Aug. 13, 2002 Universidad de las Americas, Pueblo,

MX
 Modeling of Natural Phenomena
• Fluids • Crop growth
• Fires • Geophysics
• Climate • Biological processes
• Oceanography • Epidemics
• Electromagnetics • Ecology
• Materials • Uncertainty
• Chemical processes • Genetics
• Nuclear devices • Life
Aug. 13, 2002 Universidad de las Americas, Pueblo,
MX
 Modeling (other fields)
• Stock market • Computers
• Economics • Music/Video
• Transportation • House appliances
• Psychology • Electronic processes
• Nanotechnology • Privacy

Aug. 13, 2002 Universidad de las Americas, Pueblo,

MX
 From Pure to Applied
• Number theory: prime numbers
– The study of prime numbers is traditionally an
area of pure mathematics
– Given a number, is it prime?
• Current methods are very fast, but probabilistic
• Last week, discovery of deterministic technique (but
slower)
– What is distribution of prime numbers?
– How many prime numbers are there less than x
Aug. 13, 2002 Universidad de las Americas, Pueblo,
MX
 Role of Prime Numbers
• Easy to multiply two very large prime
numbers p and q:
P=pq
• Given P, it is extremely time-consuming to
compute the prime factors p and q
• This forms the basis of many current
cryptography algorithms
Aug. 13, 2002 Universidad de las Americas, Pueblo,
MX
 From Pure to Applied
• Fuzzy logic (Zadeh, 1965)
– Instead of assigning (0 or 1) to a truth table,
assign a number x  [0,1]
– Originally pure mathematics
– Today, applied in linguistics, heaters, cameras,
controllers, etc.

Aug. 13, 2002 Universidad de las Americas, Pueblo,

MX
 Fuzzy Logic
• From Georgia Tech, 1997
– ON-LINE FABRIC INSPECTION SYSTEM
USES NEURAL NETWORKS, FUZZY
LOGIC & WAVELETS TO IMPROVE
TEXTILE QUALITY

Aug. 13, 2002 Universidad de las Americas, Pueblo,

MX
 Fuzzy Logic
SR-MM10NW
Deluxe Fuzzy Logic Rice Cooker/Warmer
See Dealer for Price

Aug. 13, 2002 Universidad de las Americas, Pueblo,

MX
 Fuzzy Logic
• A. Malaviya, "On-line Handwriting Recognition with a
Fuzzy Feature Description Language", GMD-Bericht
Nr. 271, R. Oldenbourg Verlag, München/Wien, 1996.

Aug. 13, 2002 Universidad de las Americas, Pueblo,

MX
 Fourier Transform
• Fourier Transform

F    f  x  ei t dt


1 
f (t )   F    e  i t d
2 

• Local feature in f(x) is global in F()

• Local feature in F() is global in f(x)

Aug. 13, 2002 Universidad de las Americas, Pueblo,

MX
 Fourier Transform

Source: J.C. Pickering

Aug. 13, 2002 Universidad de las Americas, Pueblo,
MX
 Applications of Fourier
Transform
• Signal analysis (1D and multi-D)
• Acoustic Analysis
• Fast numerical methods (using the FFT)
• Radar detectors (doppler effect)
• Seismography (earthquake research)
• Linear analysis
• Solution to PDEs
• Etc.
Aug. 13, 2002 Universidad de las Americas, Pueblo,
MX
 Wavelet Transform
• Wavelet
– Oscillatory function with compact support
• Width of wavelet is proportional to the
length scale of interest
• Contrast with windowed Fourier Tranform
– Width of window is independent of length scale

Aug. 13, 2002 Universidad de las Americas, Pueblo,

MX
Aug. 13, 2002 Universidad de las Americas, Pueblo,
MX
 Limitations of the
Fourier Transform
• Local information in the signal is lost
• Distinct frequencies at distinct times are not
seen by the Fourier transform
• Image on next slide shows how wavelet
transform allows localization of frequency
information in time (not possible with
Fourier methods)

Aug. 13, 2002 Universidad de las Americas, Pueblo,

MX
 Signal

Wavelet Transform

Scale

Fourier Transform

Aug. 13, 2002 Universidad de las Americas, Pueblo,

MX
 Use of Wavelets
• Pure mathematics
– Functional analysis
– Multi-resolution analysis
– Generalization of wavelets
– Etc.
• Applied Mathematics
– Singularity analysis
– Numerical algorithms
– Analysis tools
Aug. 13, 2002 Universidad de las Americas, Pueblo,
MX
 Further Applications
of Wavelets
• Analysis of any complex multiscale
phenomena
– Image compression
– Finger printing analysis
– Voice synthesis
– Video streaming
– Study of intermittency in turbulence,
earthquakes, geophysical phenomena
Aug. 13, 2002 Universidad de las Americas, Pueblo,
MX
 Analysis of complex 3D data
Extraction of thermal plumes using
wavelet thresholding

Temperature field: volume Points were wavelet

rendering coefficients exceed given
threshold

Aug. 13, 2002 Universidad de las Americas, Pueblo,

MX
 The Computer Revolution
• First Supercomputer: ENIAC (1946)
• Apple 2 (1977-1980)
– 1 MHz, 64 kbyte ram, 280x192 resolution
• Cray 2 supercomputer (1985)
– 2 Gflops, ram: 2 Gbytes (cost: US$20 million)
• Power Mac G4 (2002)
– 1 Ghz, 2 cpus, max 1.5 Gbyte, 64 Mbyte graphics
(Nvidia GeForce 4) (cost: < US$3,000)

Aug. 13, 2002 Universidad de las Americas, Pueblo,

MX
 Use of Computers in
Mathematics
• Help to prove theorems
– E.g., four color theorem (conjectured < 1850),
solved in 1976 (first proof using a computer
and not done by hand)
Cayley
• Visualize the results of Surface

mathematical research
• Help develop intuition
5(x^2*y+x^2*z+y^2*x+y^2*z+z^2*y+z^2*x)+2*(x*y+x*z+y*z)=0

Aug. 13, 2002 Universidad de las Americas, Pueblo,

MX
 Use of Mathematics in the
Computer Industry
• Improvements of improved miniaturization
– Increases clock rate, bus speeds, etc.
• Use of genetic algorithms for improved design of
boards (future?)
• Mathematical models of computer reliability
• Design of new hard disk technologies
– Eg., holographic hard disks (1 Terabyte of storage)

Aug. 13, 2002 Universidad de las Americas, Pueblo,

MX
 Use of Mathematics for
Modeling of the Internet
• Internet is a multiscale phenomena
– 28 Kbit/sec (modem)
– 64 Kbit/sec (bluetooth)
– 13 Mbit/sec (Cable)
– 10/100/1000 Mbit/sec (Ethernet)
– 1 Terabit/sec (Attochron)

Aug. 13, 2002 Universidad de las Americas, Pueblo,

MX
 Modeling of the Internet

• Develop models of network distribution

• Optimization problems
– Given a known load on the network (bandwidth
demand by the users), how to best distribute given
resources (ie., money) to minimize delays, maximize
reliability, etc.
• Develop models that correctly project Internet
usage over time

Aug. 13, 2002 Universidad de las Americas, Pueblo,

MX
 Future of Mathematics
in our Society
• Increased reliance on computers for
mathematical modeling development,
testing, analysis, etc.
• Continued integration of concepts from
pure mathematics into every day
applications
• Modeling of epidemics, etc.

Aug. 13, 2002 Universidad de las Americas, Pueblo,

MX