Event Details

Please join the Serie Center for “A story about the population of Belgium, and another story about spiky functions.'' Professor Will Mitchell (Math, Stats, Computer Science) will begin this presentation with a story about Pierre Verhulst's logistic model, an attempt to refine Malthus's famous observation that biological populations can grow exponentially. Modern references to Verhulst's work often describe - a bit too glowingly - his 1844 prediction of Belgium's current population, while ignoring his comments about slavery in the United States. Will will ask for the audience's suggestions on which parts of this fuller picture he should share with students, and how. The second story concerns the mathematical problem of finding the area under a curve that has a tall, narrow spike; this extends some work carried out by Will's summer research students in 2020.