Anyone know an interesting area of maths I could give a presentation on?

[Rough Sausage]

Basically, I need to give a 4-5 minute presentation on something maths related. I'd like it to be interesting, preferably. I just need an idea, or concept, that's easy to talk about and listen to. I'm asking because I'm not the most imaginative guy ever. Any help would be appreciated, thank you.

EDIT: Maybe it would help if you guys knew what kind of level I'm at, I'm currently a first year university student.

 

[TheYellowCellPhone]

Look at your avatar, and let the answer come to you.

Or, in other words: do something about pi.

 

[Rayne870]

Fractals. You can shove in tons of really cool pictures with it!

 

[Rough Sausage]

What about pi though? This is a university course remember, I won't be presenting to anyone who doesn't know about pi, at least I'd hope not.
Also, it needs to be a talk Rayne, basically if I just throw up a bunch of pictures, I'm not gonna get the marks but it was a nice idea nonetheless.

 

[Rayne870]

Talk about the fractals? I mean it is a very useful concept, seriously look up fractals, how they appear in nature and how they create some unique art. There is much more than 5 minutes of presentation topic if you want to get into it.

And if you can't do it...I own you because in college I did an impromptu presentation about the number 2 pencil. I shit you not.

 

[Rough Sausage]

Haha that sounds interesting I can't possibly imagine what you could've said.
And I guess I really walked into that one, I can be so dense sometimes. I'll have a look at some fractals

 

[Chromatic Aberration]

I would recommend imaginary numbers [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imaginary_numbers]. It's a fascinating and extremely important theory e.g. in Quantum Mechanics. If you go for the basics its also not that difficult or extensive.

Other interesting topics could be Differential Equations [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Differential_equation] (plays a major role in physics and mathematics in general) or Group Theory [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Group_Theory] (Important for Quantum Mechanics and especially Quantum Field Theory). Be warned though: both topics are extensive so you would have to be extremely careful in choosing what you present, especially if you only have 5 minutes.

 

[zfactor]

Fractals. You can shove in tons of really cool pictures with it!

Grr, ninja'd! Those are super interesting and I would like to know more about them. Some kind of self-repeating geometry with infinite surface area... They have pretty pictures!

 

[Rayne870]

Fractals. You can shove in tons of really cool pictures with it!

Grr, ninja'd! Those are super interesting and I would like to know more about them. Some kind of self-repeating geometry with infinite surface area... They have pretty pictures!

See! He's interested so it must be good!

 

[Bobic]

What about pi though? This is a university course remember, I won't be presenting to anyone who doesn't know about pi, at least I'd hope not.
Also, it needs to be a talk Rayne, basically if I just throw up a bunch of pictures, I'm not gonna get the marks but it was a nice idea nonetheless.

Just read out the digits of pi for 5 minutes. It's a long number, it'll last.

 

[Lamp Salesman]

The number zero.

 

[Rednog]

I remember doing a short history on the abacus and explaining how it worked, it easily ate 7-10 minutes, and as a bonus I actually learned how to use it and solved some problems my teacher threw it me. She was actually impressed and surprised I could use the damn thing. And if you're really cheap and don't want to buy one, making it is 2 pieces of wood, string, and some beads.

 

[godofallu]

You could learn to do constrained, multivariate optimization. Then you could explain it to me.

 

[Merkavar]

talk about pythagoras theorem and similiar triangles and how it can be used to estimate how long humans have left till we dissappear using the bible.

i cant find the video on you tube but basically 6.5 thousand years ago adam was 15 feet tall and modern man is 6 feet tall so if you make a triangle with these you can estimate that humans will shrink into nothing in 1.5 thousand years or something like that.

 

[CG NUTS]

the fibinatie sequens

 

[Neo10101]

Ever hear of phi? Basically nature's pi. Its a spiral ratio that is found virtually everywhere, the pyramids were built using it, the spiral of a sea shell uses it, and ferns somehow use it, tons of awesome-ness. It can even be found in the dollar bill.

 

[xXGeckoXx]

Haha that sounds interesting I can't possibly imagine what you could've said.
And I guess I really walked into that one, I can be so dense sometimes. I'll have a look at some fractals

Mendelbrot is your man, he is the late god of fractal geometry and has quite a few available lectures and papers at your disposal.

 

[PayneTrayne]

Fibronacci's Sequence and play Lateralus by Tool in the background. See if anyone picks up on it.

Also talk about the golden spiral.

 

[Kryzantine]

Game theory can get very interesting, mostly because it can be applied to anything.

Though the prisoner's dilemma is boring, don't do that. I vaguely remember this interesting game on repetition, which dealt with small fish establishing a mutually beneficial relationship with a larger fish, but both sides had to resist going against each other even though it was more convenient. The whole issue with the game is repetition of the game and how it affects strategy.

Then, there was another very interesting game which was a variation on the prisoner's dilemma and was an issue of psychology, the dangerous game - where one strategy produces a potential payoff so undesirable the player may not want to take that strategy even though the non-deadly option is better than the other strategy. Though that may be stretching it, that one's not really a math thing. Though you may be able to make it one.

Game theory starts off with really easy math, but after a bit, you cross this line, and you venture into the realm of high-level math. It can get fairly ridiculous and difficult, but highly rewarding - you can apply game theory to almost any situation, especially in the business world. 8 Nobel Memorial Prize for Economics winners were game theorists.