Π Μ Ε
Pi Mu Epsilon
The National Mathematics Honor Society
In the summer of 2004, the Mathematics Department at WOU was installed as the Oregon Delta chapter of Pi Mu Epsilon. We are proud and honored to be part of this great tradition.
To learn about how students qualify for membership for Π Μ Ε at Western Oregon University, click here.
2008: The induction ceremony for 2008 was held on Academic Excellence Day on May 29 in the Santiam Room, Werner University Center. Dr. Maria Fung, Worcester State College, was the guest speaker. Her talk was entitled, "Hamilton's Quaternions: A Brief Introduction." The Π Μ Ε Oregon Delta Chapter President, Wesley Parker, introduced our new members: Kristal Temple, Courtney Stowell, and Meghann Barger.
2009: The induction ceremony for 2009 will be held on May 28. The guess speaker will be Jamie Pommersheim, Reed College. He will be giving the following talk:
Euler-Maclaurin Summation for Polytopes
Say f(x) is a function, and you want to find the sum 
. The integral 
,
which is usually easier to compute, can be used to approximate the sum. If you want an even more accurate approximation,
the Euler-Maclaurin Formula (1735) tells you what additional correction terms, involving derivatives of f(x), to throw in. Now say f(x,y)
is a function of two variables and you want find the sum of f(x,y) over the lattice points in some polygon in the plane. (Lattice points are points with integral coordinates.)
If f is the constant function f(x,y)=1, we are simply asking how many lattice points are inside the polygon. This is already an interesting question with an interesting answer,
called Pick' s Formula (1899). The general question of summing functions over polygons has seen great progress just in the last three years! Time permitting,
after discussing the Euler-Maclaurin formula and Pick' s Formula, we 'll have a look at s ome of this progress.
To learn more about Π Μ Ε, visit the national Π Μ Ε home page.