Williams Professor to Discuss Mathematical Approach to Fairness
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — Williams College math professor Allison Pacelli will give the final lecture in the annual faculty lecture series on Thursday, March 18.Pacelli’s lecture is titled "Fair is Foul, and Foul is Fair: A Mathematical Approach to Fairness." The lecture will take place at 4 p.m. in Wege Auditorium in The Science Center. The event is free and open to the public.
The idea of fairness is considerably more complicated when more than two people are involved, but according to Pacelli, mathematics can be surprisingly useful in these situations.
Pacelli’s areas of interest include algebraic number theory, class groups and class numbers, and global function fields. Her work has been published in a number of journals, including the Journal of Number Theory and the Journal of Pure and Applied Algebra. Her book, "Mathematics and Politics: Strategy, Voting, Power, and Proof," co-written with Alan Taylor, was published in 2009.
At Williams, Pacelli teaches Algebraic Number Theory, Abstract Algebra, Introduction to Number Theory, Galois Theory, and a tutorial on Mathematical Proof and Argumentation.
She received her B.S. from Union College, and her Ph.D. from Brown University.
