Talk by Dr. Mike Siddoway (Mathematical Sciences, Visiting Professor at MSU from Colorado College)

2/25/19  Wilson Hall 1-144  4:10-5:00pm

Abstract: 

It is easy to see that one can form various closed chains in 2-space entirely using squares or equilateral triangles as links in the chains.  The “join” in these chains is the shared side of two adjacent (equivalent) figures.  A closed chain is one in which the repeated links eventually wend back to match a side (in the appropriate dimension) of the initial figure.  It is also clear that one can form closed chains in 3-space with cubical links.  What about chains with tetrahedral links?  What if we further consider chains formed with “hyper-tetrahedral” links in higher dimensions?  In this talk I’ll answer a question (and a few more that came up along the way) raised by a colleague a few years ago while we avoided other work near a mathematics department’s coffee machine.