The Department of Mathematics at The Catholic University of America hosts a weekly seminar in Functional Analysis and Related Areas. Attendance is open to all interested members of the mathematics community, including students and faculty from other colleges and universities. See below for the title and an abstract of the upcoming presentation.

Visit our seminar archive for a list of past seminar speakers and their talks, with links to their abstracts.

Next Seminar

THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA
Washington, DC 20064
SEMINAR IN FUNCTIONAL ANALYSIS
AND RELATED AREAS
Wednesday, April  30, 2025
5:15 p.m. - 6:15 p.m. (including a coffee break)

SPEAKER: Dr. Peter Ulrickson
                  The Catholic University of America

TITLE: Mathematics and Plato's Meno

ABSTRACT: I will examine the two mathematical passages in Plato’s dialogue Meno. My goal is to offer a reciprocally informative account. On the one hand, the philosophical frame of the mathematical passages gives insight into the development of mathematics in the 4th century BC, specifically the Eudoxan theory of ratio presented in Book V of Euclid’s Elements. On the other hand, subtle mathematical details contribute to our understanding of the dialogue’s philosophical trajectory.
I do not simply address the two mathematical passages, but argue further that they must be read together. This novel approach allows me to use and advance David Fowler’s work on anthyphairetic ratio while simultaneously engaging with the substantial literature relating the second Meno passage to the geometrical method of analysis.

PLACE:  Aquinas Hall, room 108.

ORGANIZERS: V. Bogdan (The Catholic University of America), P. Kainen (Georgetown University), R. Kalpathy (The Catholic University of America), and A. Levin (The Catholic University of America).

Tel: 202-319-5221202-319- 5222.    Fax: 202-319-5231.  E-mail:levin@cua.edu

Web page:  
https://mathematics.catholic.edu/faculty-and-research/mathematics-seminar/index.html

The talk will be on Zoom as well (from 5:15 p.m. to 6:40 p.m. ET).   The following is the information about the corresponding link. 

Meeting Topic: SEMINAR IN FUNCTIONAL ANALYSIS AND RELATED AREAS
Meeting Time: Sep 18, 2024 05:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)

Every week on Wed, until Dec 25, 2024, 15 occurrence(s)
Zoom link: https://cua.zoom.us/s/92661437403
Meeting ID: 926 6143 7403