Author Archives: Xander

About Xander

Xander completed his PhD in mathematics at UC Riverside in the Spring of 2020, amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. His thesis, titled Fractal Zeta Functions in Metric Measure Spaces, explores some connections between the geometry of certain metric spaces, and the spectra of the Laplace operator on those spaces. He is currently an instructor at Northland Pioneer College, out in the beautiful deserts of northern Arizona.

Exponents

Posted on 18 April 2011 by Xander

In our first encounter with exponents, we are taught that exponentiation is notation that simply means “multiply the number by itself some number of times.” For instance, 35 means the same thing as 3×3×3×3×3. For most people, this is a … Continue reading →

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Monday Mandelbrot Madness XVIII

Posted on 11 April 2011 by Xander
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Monday Mandelbrot Madness XXVII

Posted on 4 April 2011 by Xander
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Monday Mandelbrot Madness XXVI

Posted on 28 March 2011 by Xander
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The Hard Way

Posted on 23 March 2011 by Xander

Here’s an interesting problem from a homework assignment in a class on stochastic processes: A woman standing at an intersection wants to cross the street. She will only cross if she feels that she can get all the way to … Continue reading →

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Monday Mandelbrot Madness XXV

Posted on 21 March 2011 by Xander
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Spring Has Sprung

Posted on 20 March 2011 by Xander

Today is the vernal equinox. More exactly, the vernal equinox will occur about half an hour before midnight in Greenwich, England; or at about 4:30 PM PDT (my time zone). At the moment of the equinox, the sun’s position in … Continue reading →

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Welcome to Mercury

Posted on 18 March 2011 by Xander

More than six and a half years ago, NASA launched the MESSENGER probe. Since its launch, it has traveled around the inner solar system, flying by Earth once, Venus twice, and Mercury three times. Yesterday, MESSENGER finished its long journey, … Continue reading →

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Monday Mandelbrot Madness XXIV

Posted on 14 March 2011 by Xander
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The Mandelbrot Set—Part VI: Julia Sets

Posted on 14 March 2011 by Xander

The Mandelbrot Set Series: This is the sixth part in a series on Mandelbrot set fractals. Up until now, we have looked at fractals that are generated by examining the limit behaviour of points on the complex plane when a … Continue reading →

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