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such as the Boeing 777 aircraft, the first paperless airplane, and
in low-cost simulations to guide computer chip design and manufacture. Mathematical modelling is involved in such applications
as devising and analyzing voting systems and communications networks, designing a mechanical hand, and finding an optimum production schedule for a factory.
The role of mathematics as a design tool is of great interest to many
professionals in many fields as diverse as textile, jewellery, sound
and music, decoration, architecture and art. These people work in
areas that include graphics interaction, animation and rendering,
virtual reality, computer aided geometry design, graphic algorithms,
fractals, geographical information systems, CAD systems, fine art
and sculpture, music, educational aspects of related fields, and
graphics within mathematical software (such as Maple, Derive and
Mathematica.)
The graduate with a bachelors degree in mathematics can qualify
for a broad range of highly paid positions in business, industry,
government, and teaching. The computer and communications industries employ many mathematicians, as do oil companies, banks,
insurance companies, and consulting firms.
Cryptology, the study of codes and ciphers (secret messages), is
very important in the design of ATMs, and uses statistics, probability theory, number theory, group theory, Fourier analysis, and
modern algebra. In the analysis of mortgage-backed securities,
statistical regression, basic calculus, numerical analysis, optimization methods, and stochastic partial differential equations are used.
Mathematical ideas have become indispensable to an impressive
number of disciplines, and this list is increasing. See page 4 for a
listing of :
- organizations that currently employ mathematicians;
- books and websites that offer career information.
Prof. R. Padmanabhan
Prof. R. Craigen
Prof. R. Gaudet
Prof. A. Gumel
CO-ORDINATOR:
S. Kangas
(kangass@cc.umanitoba.ca)
OUR WEBSITE:
www.umanitoba.ca/faculties/science/
mathematics
MAIL ADDRESS:
FAX #:
TEL #:
Page 2
(204) 474-7611
(204) 474-8703
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
CAREERS IN MATHEMATICS
PAGE 1
INFORMATION ITEMS
PAGE 2
PAGE 3-4
PAGE 4
MATHEMATICS IN MEDICINE
PAGE 5-6
INFIGERS
PAGE 6-7
PROBLEM CORNER
PAGE 8
2 2
p
1
of the height of the original graphic, not
50607
1.
4
-1
Fig. 1
It is clear that the function oscillates in some way between 1 and
1. Of course, its the sine of something; but because it is not a pure
sine function, there are also intermediary maxima and minima.
Heres the question: what is the approximate difference in height
f(x) between the first local maximum and the first local minimum,
for positive x?
Conclusion: using software to get an accurate graphic is only foolproof if you already know what youre looking for, and if you already know where to look for it.
Example 2: On a graphing calculator (or otherwise), plot the graph
x
of g(x) = 1
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0.5
Fig. 2
1.5
-0.25
-0.5
-0.75
-1
Fig. 3
Page 3
Functions g and f look similar in the neighbourhood of 0.63. Zooming in, for 0.55 x 0.73, allows us to see their different behaviours;
f(x) is dashed; axes are centred at (0.55, 0.9999), not (0, 0). (Fig. 4)
Fig. 4
We can see f(x) correctly but I guess we still havent zoomed in
enough to see g(x)s true personality, eh?
Example 3: If such small oscillations near a local maximum (or
no such oscillation ...) could be hidden to the casual calculator user,
could not such oscillations (or lack of oscillations ...) be visible (or
not ...) in parts of the graph that do not even appear to harbour any
extrema at all? Yes they can.
Some simple function k(x) has a graphic strangely resembling that
of the line y = x. (Fig. 5) (It is piecewise-defined; only a linear
part and a single trigonometric part are present.)
0 x < 0.636
x
cos(2000 ( x 0.636)) 1
k ( x ) = x +
1000
x
1
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
Fig. 5
The graphic looks differently upon zooming in a lot, supposing we
know exactly where to look ... or are willing to spend all day trying
to find something that might not even exist .... (Fig. 6)
0.638
0.637
0.636
0.635
0.635
0.636
0.637
0.638
NOTE:
A POPULATION MODEL
OF DIABETES
A. Gumel
Diabetes is a disease in which the body does not produce or properly use insulin, a hormone that is needed to convert sugar, starches
and other food into energy needed for daily life.
Diabetes is a silent killer. Many people first become aware that
they have diabetes when they develop one of its life-threatening
complications namely: blindness, kidney disease, nerve disease and
amputations, heart disease and stroke.
The cause of diabetes remains a mystery, although both genetics
and environmental factors such as obesity and lack of exercise appear to play roles. The Canadian Diabetes Association estimated
that over 2 million Canadians have diabetes. Approximately 90%
of the people with diabetes are non-insulin dependent (develops in
adulthood) and the remaining 10% are insulin dependent (most often occuring in children and young adults). People with insulin
dependent diabetes must take daily insulin injections to stay alive.
Insulin was invented in Toronto in 1922.
This study, aimed at introducing the vital role mathematics plays in
public health, focuses on the design of a simple mathematical model
for the evolution of diabetes to the stage of complication. The
compartmental model will monitor the size of a population of diabetics and will give the number of people with complications as a
function of time.
Mathematical Model
Suppose C = C(t) and D = D(t) represent the numbers of diabetics
with and without complications, respectively. Suppose also that the
size of the population of diabetics at time t is N = N(t) = C(t) +
D(t). Let I denote the incidence of diabetes (assumed constant);
there are approximately 60000 new cases diagnosed every year in
the UK. So, I = 60000 per year in the UK.
The Population of Diabetics Without Complication, D(t)
To measure the rate at which this population changes with respect
to time (given by
dD(t )
),
dt
towards the population D(t) are considered to be positive contributions, whereas arrows pointing away are considered losses. Fig. 1
suggests that :
the population D(t) is generated by the number (I) of new
diagnoses in a time interval of length t. It is assumed that these
individuals have no complications upon diagnosis;
the population is decreased by development of complications
The following article makes use of calculus and may be difficult for some readers.
Hence we have,
dD(t )
=I D(t ) D(t ) + C(t )
dt
(1)
(D) ;
it is decreased by natural death ( C ) ;
= (t ) =
C (t )
N (t )
(4)
(5)
dN
= I ( + )C(t ) N (t ), t > 0; N (0) = N 0 ,
dt
in which C = C(t ) and N = N (t ) . The nonlinearity arises from
the second term of
dC(t )
.
dt
Page 5
Setting the right hand side of (5) to zero gives two steady-state
solutions:
I
,
(6)
( ) I
I
, N* =
,
+ ( + )( )
+ ( + )( )
(7)
C* = 0, N * =
INFIGERS
R. Craigen
and
C* =
The first solution is called the trivial critical point (the population, C(t ) , of diabetics with complication is non-existent). The second solution is non- trivial.
Numerical simulations
The analytical solution of the IVP system (5) is difficult to find
because of its non-linear nature. Hence, numerical methods are
used to approximate the solution of (5) taking:
I = 60, 000, = 1, = 0.08, = 0.02, = 0.05, = 0.05,
the trivial critical values may be calculated from (6): they are
C* = 0 and N* = 3000000 . Similarly, the non-trivial critical
values are obtained from (7) to be C* = 480000 and
N* = 600000 . The initial conditions C 0 = N 0 = 500 were chosen. The profiles for C and N generated using a standard numerical method, are depicted in Figures 2 and 3 respectively. It was
found that convergence was to the non-trivial critical point; the
steady-state had been reached by time t = 50 years. Similar profiles were obtained using
not cured).
Acknowledgement
[1] A. Boutayeb and A. Kerfati : Diabetology models (1994).
[2] A. Boutayeb and E. Twizell (1999). Working paper.
[3] British Diabetic Association: Diabetes in the United Kingdom
1996).
[4] M. Lukie and A. Gumel. Student project on the modelling of
glucose-insulin kinetics (2000).
C
D
Total
Population
I(t)
C(t)
D(t)
C
C(t)
500000
Not too far away, in an otherwise dull galaxy much like ours, lives
the intelligent race of Endians, so called because they order their
lives by the principle that all good things must come to an end.
(They knock down their heritage buildings to protect them from
the slow ravages of time and burn down forests before they get old
and densely grown. Music groups that have more than 5 hits are
disbanded by law. So, you see, they take this principle quite to the
extreme!)
These clever folks are just entering their industrial revolution. In
all their previous history they have never had need for any numbers other than the usual nonnegative integers, 0,1,2,3, etc., and the
occasional fraction; since they have 10 fingers like us (albeit distributed somewhat unevenly among their 3 hands), they represent
numbers, as we do, with place notation in base 10.
They are just now beginning to notice an increasing need for a
more comprehensive system of numbers well-suited to mechanical
computation, to support their technological advances, and have
considered how to represent fractions (and any other numbers that
might come along) in a place-type system. The first thing that was
proposed was to place a decimal point after integers and continue
with digits representing the fractions 1/10, 1/100, and so on, as we
are accustomed to doing. But when it became clear that, in this
system, some numbers, like 1/3 = 0.333..., would never come to an
end, the Endians decided that the system was an abomination, for it
violated the aforementioned much cherished principle, so they discarded it.
However, a forward-thinking young visionary named Antemedes
discovered how to rescue some of the benefits of the idea of unending decimals without committing the ultimate heresy: the digits of his numbers had the usual integer place-values, 1, 10, 100
and so on, but his idea was to assign a value to EVERY place. So
the number 7 would be thought of as ...0007; its square would be
...0049, and so on, each beginning with an infinite number of zeros. But he didnt stop there. His system also allowed the possibility that some numbers could have an infinite number of nonzero
digits!
400000
300000
200000
100000
(time, t years)
0
0
60 80 100 110
20 40
Figure 2. Profiles of C(t)
N(t)
Now, you may wonder, how is this system any better than the other,
seeing as it, too, involves the use of unending strings of digits to
represent numbers? Well, that is where you are wrong! For you
must admit that, although these numbers do not have a beginning,
they most certainly all come to an end in the same place, after
the 1s digit!
600000
500000
400000
300000
200000
100000
(time, t years)
0
0
Page 6
60 80 100 110
20 40
Figure 3. Profiles of N(t)
Antemedes discovered that it is possible to add, subtract, and multiply any two infigers according to the usual rules of arithmetic.
For example, he found that
...6667 x 3 = 1, and
...9999 + 1 = 0 .
Try these calculations yourself, to see how they work. Just multiply or add, in the same way as you are accustomed, and dont stop
until you are sure that the pattern you see will continue.
This means, of course, that 1/3 = ...6667, and that ...9999 is an
entirely new number (to them!), the additive inverse, or negative,
of 1, which of course is what we call -1. Similarly,
-2 = ...9998, and -157 = ...99843 .
In fact, the negative of any positive integer begins with an infinite
string of 9s, and any number of this type is the negative of a positive integer. To be sure that you understand this, see if you can
decide to which negative number ...999342 corresponds.
Multiplication of ...6667 by 3 is not hard because 3 has only one
digit; how does one multiply by, say, 23? Why, in the same way as
we usually do: multiply by 3 and 2, adding a zero to the end of the
second number, and add the results:
...6667
x 23
...0001
...33340
...333341 ,
which is, apparently, the infiger representation of 23/3.
Infigers can be multiplied by continuing the above process for each
of the digits of the second number in the product. Here, for example, is Antemedes calculation for the square of 1/3:
...6667
x ...6667
...6669
...00020
...000200
...0002000
:
: :
...8889 .
This should be the infiger for 1/9, which you can check easily by
multiplying by 9.
Antecedes made many other exciting discoveries. For example,
no number has two DIFFERENT infiger representations, unlike in
our decimal system, where 1.6999... = 1.7000... ; infiger representations of rational numbers always eventually repeat in a periodic
cycle, and all infigers of this form represent rational numbers.
There are many exciting discoveries to be made about infigers, and
Ill leave some of them for you. Here are some things to do:
PROBLEM CORNER
C
B
D. Trim
500 m
Original
rail
Dear Readers:
q
Welcome back to the PROBLEM CORNER. We have the solution to the problem from our last column and a new problem for
you.
q
D
-0.02
How was your intuition? Did you guess that OC would be this
much? I didn t.
Here is your problem for next time:
You are given the function f ( x ) =
x2 + 2x + c
,where c is a
x 2 + 4 x + 3c
constant. You are to find all values of c for which the range of
the function consists of all reals.This problem does not require
high level mathematics; it requires logical thinking and some
calculations. Think very carefully before you begin; it is easy
to start off in the wrong direction. This comment applies particularly to students in Grade 12. (Remember that c is a constant
and cannot therefore depend on x .)
Page 8