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.

Education is a Ponzi Scheme

Posted on 22 March 2012 by Xander

Our education system is a massive Ponzi scheme. I may come across as a cynic for making this statement, and I may earn the ire of many, but bear with me for a moment. This is not a bad thing—in … Continue reading →

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Office Decoration

Posted on 15 March 2012 by Xander

My office is housed in the Davidson Math and Science Building at UNR. The building is relatively new, and has some design quirks, some of which are a bit annoying. For instance, next to the doorway of each office, there … Continue reading →

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Still Alive!

Posted on 14 March 2012 by Xander

Man… between my course load, my teaching load, and a four month old, I have been rather remiss in keeping this place up to date. C’est la vie, I suppose. At any rate, spring break is next week, and I … Continue reading →

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Spider’s Web

Posted on 17 January 2012 by Xander

My wife is an editor for the literary site Indie Ink. The goal of the site is to foster creativity in a non-judgemental and non-competitive manner. One way in which they do this is through a weekly writing challenge, where … Continue reading →

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The Collatz Fractal

Posted on 12 January 2012 by Xander

In the past, we have spent a significant amount of time discussing the Mandelbrot set and variations thereon. We saw that each Mandelbrot, multibrot, and Julia set can be characterized as a set of complex numbers that behave “nicely” with … Continue reading →

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Sudoku

Posted on 11 January 2012 by Xander

I don’t know a lot about the game Sudoku—I haven’t played that may squares, nor have I ever gotten really into the mathematical study of the game. However, I can certainly understand the attraction: there are a large number of … Continue reading →

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MMM LVII

Posted on 2 January 2012 by Xander
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A Typical Morning

Posted on 9 December 2011 by Xander

Seven weeks ago, my wife Wendryn and I brought home our daughter, Katja, from the hospital. Since Katja was born, Wendryn has been going to work in the morning, and I have been going to work in the afternoon. Every … Continue reading →

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MMM LVI

Posted on 7 November 2011 by Xander
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MMM LV

Posted on 17 October 2011 by Xander
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