Math Encounters - How Fast Does It Grow?
Scale a mathematical mountain known as the factorial with former Dean of Harvard College and Leverett Professor of Mathematics Benedict Gross. The factorial function, usually written n!, helps model innumerable different phenomena in the world around us, from the number of ways an election ballot can be filled out to the probabilities encountered in a game of poker. These wide-ranging applications lead us to want to know how quickly n! grows, and Professor Gross will take us on a historical journey, starting with Louis XIV revoking the Edict of Nantes, that will show how mathematics can illuminate such questions of which quantities ultimately grow the fastest.
Scale a mathematical mountain known as the factorial with former Dean of Harvard College and Leverett Professor of Mathematics Benedict Gross. The factorial function, usually written n!, helps model innumerable different phenomena in the world around us, from the number of ways an election ballot can be filled out to the probabilities encountered in a game of poker. These wide-ranging applications lead us to want to know how quickly n! grows, and Professor Gross will take us on a historical journey, starting with Louis XIV revoking the Edict of Nantes, that will show how mathematics can illuminate such questions of which quantities ultimately grow the fastest.