Facial recognition has become increasingly important in recent years, due to the wide range of applications it has in fields such as security, surveillance, and human-computer interaction. Three popular methods for facial recognition are the Principal Component Analysis (PCA), Karhunen-Loeve Expansions, which is fundamentally a continuous form of PCA but...
Combinatorics is a field of mathematics that concerns enumeration and existence, and its most notable applications are in computer science and statistics. Most students are introduced to combinatorics through counting problems, where they are tasked with determining the cardinality of a set of outcomes. Such problems are well-known for being...
We define an inner product on a vector space of adelic measures over a number field $K$. We find that the norm induced by this inner product governs weak convergence at each place of $K$. The canonical adelic measure associated to a rational map is in this vector space, and...
In "Level Number Sequences for Trees" Flagotet and Prodinger investigate the problem of counting the number of level number sequences associated to binary trees of $n$ binary nodes. I convert this problem into terms of exterior nodes or "leaves" and leaf number sequences. "Polynomial representation" is then defined to address...
In 1979, for each signature for Fuchsian groups of the first kind, Bowen and Series constructed an explicit fundamental domain for one group of the signature, and from this a function on the unit circle tightly associated with this group. In general, their fundamental domain enjoys what has since been...
In this work we introduce some basic concepts within homotopy type theory (HoTT), a proposed alternative mathematical foundation to classical set theory. In particular, our discussion revolves around the Axiom of Choice (AC). In Part I, we introduce the classical AC and some of its most important equivalents. In Part...
In biological models, advection is inherently a non-local process. Coupled with diffusion, it typically models chemotaxis, which is the response of bacteria to the presence of some chemo attractant. For example, E. coli cells use their flagella to probe their surroundings to determine where they should move. The advection-diffusion equation...
We introduce a numerical criterion which allows us to bound the degree of any algebraic integer having all of Galois conjugates in an interval of length less than 4. Using this criterion, we study two arithmetic dynamical questions with local rationality conditions. First, we classify all unicritical polynomials defined over...
There is high projected growth for STEM-based job fields; however, a significant barrier to students entering those fields is the requirement to take Introductory Calculus. This thesis summarizes the current research done to improve university level math education, specifically calculus courses. It then uses the MAA Instructional Practices Guide to...
In 1956, Alder conjectured an integer partition inequality which generalized Euler’s partition identity, the first Rogers-Ramanujan identity, and a partition identity of Schur. Alder’s conjecture, proved in part by Andrews in 1971, followed by Yee in 2008, and finally completed by Alfes, Jameson, and Lemke Oliver in 2010 states that...
Mathematics outreach typically consists of community events that show the exciting applications of mathematics, particularly to K-12 students. The goal of mathematics outreach events is to increase student interest and involvement in mathematics-related activities. Students start to develop a stigma against mathematics by the end of elementary school. Outreach events...
Living in the Pacific Northwest, we are acutely aware of the dangers posed by wildfires. Largely due to the worsening effects of climate change, this danger is only increasing. Along with causing property and economic damage to those communities affected by wildfires, exposure to the smoke generated by wildfires can...
Following the work of Asai, Kaneko, and Ninomiya for Faber polynomials associated to the modular group, and Bannai, Kojima, and Miezaki's partial proof for the case of the Fricke group of level 2, we show that the zeros of certain modular functions for some low-level genus zero groups associated to...
A fully-saturated poroelastic medium is confined by the sides of a cylinder, and the regions below and above the medium are filled with fluid at respective constant pressures. The filtration flow of fluid through the poroelastic medium and the small deformations of the medium are described by a quasi-static Biot...
This arts-based autoethnography explores the experience of a graduate student of mathematics at a mid-sized research university through a collection of collage, songwriting, and personal essays. This research identifies issues in the mathematics academic pipeline associated with gender, burnout culture, perfectionism, mental health, qualifying exams, and isolation. The present research...
Machine learning models are powerful tools which may aid in the prediction of survival outcomes of cancer patients. This study evaluated eight classification models and eight regression models on their ability to predict survival outcomes on breast cancer and prostate cancer data sets from the SEER database. The most accurate...
Machine learning models are powerful tools which may aid in the prediction of survival outcomes of cancer patients. This study evaluated eight classification models and eight regression models on their ability to predict survival outcomes on breast cancer and prostate cancer data sets from the SEER database. The most accurate...
In this dissertation, we consider two problems in number theory, both relating to modular forms. First we consider when a given modular form can be expressed as a quotient in Dedekind's $\eta$ function. Rouse and Webb \cite{RW} have determined the integers $N \leq 500$ such that the graded ring of...