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Mathematics major Michael Follett ’11 (Lebanon, Pa.) is presenting two related research projects at the 2009 Joint Mathematics Meetings held this week in Washington, D.C.
Follett is discussing work he did on campus last summer with three undergraduates from other schools at sessions hosted by the American Mathematical Society. Their research was part of Lafayette’s eight-week summer Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) math program, in which students work in small groups with a faculty mentor on unsolved mathematics problems.
The team, led by Lorenzo Traldi, Marshall R. Metzgar Professor of Mathematics, investigated two dice-rolling issues. In the first, they studied voting theories and voting systems and then considered how dice games could represent multicandidate elections. In the second project, the team attempted to prove theorems about dice families, which are sets of dice whose rolls have the same mean value.
Follett, who participated as an EXCEL Scholar and continued his work in the fall semester, explains that the team analyzed patterns and results in rolling various pairs of dice, using a computer program to simulate the rolls over millions of throws and to determine the probability of various pairings. Follett and the other team members drew upon knowledge they had gained from taking computer programming classes in order to write the program to analyze the dice rolls.
Follett is considering baseball statistical analysis as a possible career, and he thinks that the experience gained from this research will be helpful in his future.