A common fallacy among gamblers is that if the outcome of a random process hasn't occurred in a long time, it must occur soon. This belief ceases to be a fallacy and becomes an important fact of life in the strange world of quasi-randomness. With fun puzzles and colorful graphics, we will tour this world and see how quasi-random machines, built from simple "rotor-routers", give surprisingly good estimates for quantities like the golden ratio and pi.
My main purpose in visiting and giving the talk is to encourage women to consider scientific careers, to encourage some of those women more specifically to consider getting PhD's in math, and to encourage some of those women more specifically to consider applying to UW-Madison. I don't mind if some Columbia boys show up, but women (at both Columbia and Barnard) are my main intended audience.