The Mathematics of Doodling

Doodling has many mathematical aspects: patterns, shapes, numbers, and more. Not surprisingly, there is often sophisticated and fun mathematics buried inside common doodles. Professor Vakil begins by doodling, and sees where it takes the class. It looks like play, but reflects what mathematics is really about: finding patterns in nature, explaining them and extending them. We'll uncover fundamental ideas guiding the development of mathematics over the course of the last century up to the present.

Speaker: Ravi Vakil, Stanford