Speaker:
Professor Jason Fulman
Institution:
USC
Time:
Tuesday, October 20, 2009 - 11:00am
Location:
RH 306
Adding a column of numbers produces `carries' along the way. We show that random digits produce a pattern of carries with a neat probabilistic description: the carries form a one-dependent determinantal point process. This makes it easy to answer natural questions: How many carries are typical? Where are they located? (Many further examples, from combinatorics, algebra and group theory, have essentially the same neat formulae.) The examples give a gentle introduction to the emerging fields of one-dependent and determinantal point processes. This work is joint with Alexei Borodin and Persi Diaconis.