Talks

Jay Cummings' Website — CSUS Department of Mathematics

If you would like me to give a talk

  • If you would like me to give a talk at a seminar or conference, send me an email.
  • I have an updated version of a Math in Elections talk (old version below). This talk is suitable for a general audience.
  • I have a pair of Math of Juggling talks, one for a general audience and one for a mathematically mature audience.
  • I have a general audience Mathemagics talk, where I perform and explain magic tricks which work based on mathematical principles.
  • I also have a several talks on combinatorics research projects.

Video and Information of Previous Talks

When I have video of a talk I've given, I'll post it here. Currently there's only one, but this list should grow by one every year or two.

JugglingTalkPic

  • I recently gave a round of talks on the math of juggling. The goal is to model and the study physical juggling patterns. The classic way to do this is using sequences of numbers called juggling sequence, but recently there have been advancements in the field by instead imagining them spatially with so-called juggling cards. The math of juggling has many beautiful theorems that we discuss.




Mathemagics Pic

  • I have given several general audience talks on the math-based magic tricks. There are number of tricks which work based solely on mathematical principles. I typically dress up in wizarding robes and use a wand as a clicker.

    The tricks makes us of a variety of mathematical principles, and the reason they work is explained.




Math Elections Pic

  • Ahead of the 2016 elections I gave a several general audience talk on the math of elections. You can view (an early version of) this talk on YouTube here.








Interviews

  • I was interviewed on Insight with Beth Ruyak on NPR about another version of the elections talk, mentioned above, and that interview can be listened to here.
  • I was interviewed on the Meet a Mathematician podcast. Check it out if you want to hear about one of my first memories, imposter syndrome, imaginary Erdős numbers, long-form math, and why 0 is NOT a natural number. You can find audio of it in your podcast app, or video of that interview can be viewed below.