UW-Milwaukee Department of Mathematical Sciences presents,

Dr. Bob Milnikel;
Associate Professor of Mathematics
Kenyon College
Friday, May 8, 2015
1:30pm in EMS E180
Note: This colloquium begins 30 minutes earlier than normal at 1:30pm and in EMS E180 instead of E495

Title:
A New Angle on an Old Construction

Description/Abstract:
It’s well known that exact straightedge-and-compass construction of a regular n-gon is impossible for most values of n. I’ll introduce a historical technique for approximating a regular n-gon that works (more or less) for any value of n. Finally, I’ll introduce a slight variation — original as far as I know — that improves the construction’s accuracy. The material is very accessible! The only mathematical background needed is a little algebra and trigonometry.