Mary Floyd, Laplace transforms.
http://blogs.canisius.edu/mathblog/wp-content/uploads/sites/31/2012/09/Sept26MF.pdf
Mary Floyd, Laplace transforms.
http://blogs.canisius.edu/mathblog/wp-content/uploads/sites/31/2012/09/Sept26MF.pdf
I thought Mary’s talk on Laplace transformations was very informative. It has many real life applications and is often used in the fields of physics and engineering. They can be used to solve differential and integral equations. If you have taken Calculus and Differential Equations, Laplace transformations are quite trivial. They are nice in that these types of transformations simplifies the problem at hand, especially if you are dealing with a large matrix. Even though I have not taken Differential Equations, the talk that Mary did was pretty easy to follow and gave me a brief basis of Differential Equations.
Mary’s talk:
Mary gave a talk on Laplace Transformations, a topic covered in differential equations. This was an interesting topic that I had not been previously exposed to, since I opted to take statistics instead of differential equations. The content of the presentation was good. I liked how Mary included a little history and background information on Laplace. I also liked how she went through the general process of solving a differential equation. The example she did in class helped me to understand the topic better. Another positive aspect of Mary’s presentation was the fact that she included some practical applications and uses of Laplace Transformations.
The presentation was also well done. Mary maintained eye contact with her audience and demonstrated overall comfort and ease talking in front of her peers. Her pace was good, her diction clear, and her volume sufficient. Furthermore, I liked how Mary dressed professionally. This always makes a good impression on me as an audience member. She is definitely a good public speaker.
I really enjoyed this presentation. Mary was obviously invested and interested in this topic. It has been a while since I took Differential Equations and learned about this, but it came back to me easily enough. It is tricks like this that make math so interesting and incredible. It is one of the more fun things to learn in a math class, because everyone loves tricks that make their life easier.
What was new for me was learning a little about Pierre-Simon Laplace, the man who developed these transforms. I always wonder what goes through these mathematicians’ minds when they make discoveries like this. I wonder what leads them to start searching for these kinds of answers. It also reminds me of another great thing about being a mathematician—Laplace, like many others, had his hands in many fields due to his strong command of mathematics.
I really liked Mary’s talk on Laplace Transforms. Differential Equations was one of my favorite math classes that I have taken thus far. Mary’s talk provided a lot of background information on the topic. I really like this because it draws the viewers interest and the history of mathematics is both important and interesting. Mary described how to do Laplace Transforms very adequately, as I easily remembered how to do it when she was going through the method. I liked that she shared that she learned this in England and not here at Canisius. I felt that this may have brought different view points to Laplace Transforms. Overall, Mary did a wonderful job on her talk and I found it very interesting.