Taft Lectures

Imagine that someone hands you square tiles of side lengths $s_0 \geq s_1 \geq s_2 \geq s_3$. What is the side length of the smallest square in which you can fit the four tiles? (Hint: the values of $s_2$ and $s_3$ are not relevant.) What if you start with five tiles instead of four? What about infinitely many tiles? In this talk, I will survey classical results on square packings, show how square packings lead to improved norm inequalities, and illustrate a recent application of square packings in metric geometry: a novel construction of Lipschitz surjections with Euclidean domains and metric targets. Based in part on joint work with Raanan Schul.

Refreshments will be served 3:15-3:45pm in the Math Faculty & Graduate Student Lounge Room 4118 French Hall West