Competing with Wolfram on the same day, February 12, but over the hill at UCSC in Santa Cruz, a genuine mathematician will be giving a colloquium. It appears that the talk will be at 4:00, preceded by tea at 3:30. The contact for further information is qing@cats.ucsc.edu (Jie Qing). The Math Dept. URL is http://www.math.ucsc.edu/ . UCSC is the only university campus I'm aware of that lies within a redwood forest; it's the most pleasant campus I've visited. February 12, 2003 What do you know about the metropolis algorithm? (Wednesday) Alternate Location: 360 Jack Baskin Engineering Bldg. Professor Persi Diaconis, Stanford The metropolis algorithm is one of the great algorithms of 20th century scientific computing. I will explain the algorithm and illustrate its use in code breaking, both for spy codes and DNA. Analysis of the algorithm leads to new parts of spectral theory and many open problems. Please note, this seminar will be on Wednesday this week, and will be held at 360 Jack Baskin Engineering Building. __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now. http://mailplus.yahoo.com