Mathematics Graduate Students Organization

Seminar:

Date: April 5

The theory of sampling is an integral part of electrical engineering, in particular, communication theory. On account of its strong mathematical content, the subject also enjoys close connections with harmonic analysis, function theory, and approximation theory. This talk will outline the development of some aspects of approximation theory -- dealing, in particular, with interpolation by means of splines and Gaussian radial-basis functions -- which were motivated by the theory of sampling.

No background in approximation theory or sampling theory will be assumed. The speaker happens to find this topic interesting and elegant, and hopes that, at the end of the lecture, he will have convinced at least some of the listeners that his penchant for the subject is not merely prejudice on his part.