Mathematics Enrichment Lecture Series

We want these lectures to provide an opportunity for students to get to know the speakers beyond the given topic in an informal atmosphere, initiating thought-provoking conversations. We trust that these exchanges can serve as starting points for future joint research, theses, and TDK (Scientific Students’ Associations) papers. Because mathematics belongs to everyone! 

The following three lectures in the series are organized jointly by the Department of Mathematics and the SPM and GEM student organizations. Further lectures are being organized, and we are also open to new topic proposals. 

Professional Lead: Anna Radványi, Assistant Professor (anna.radvanyi@uni-corvinus.hu) 

Please note that the language of the talks will be Hungarian! 

Program: 

Gergely Kiss, Associate Professor: Impartial Games 

Date: 5 March 2025, 17:20–18:50 

Location: Corvinus University of Budapest, Building C, Room C107 

You can register for the March 5 event via this link until midnight on March 4. 

In game theory, impartial games are combinatorial games in which the players have identical options in any given position. The players (usually two) move alternately; the game is finite, and it ends without a draw. The lecture discusses the basic concepts of impartial combinatorial games and the essence of the solution of Nim (nim-sum/XOR, winning strategies). We will arrive at the recursive definition of the Sprague–Grundy function and the Sprague–Grundy theorem, which describes the disjunctive sum of games using the nim-sum. We will examine what this method yields for certain impartial games. 

Dezső Bednay, Assistant Professor: Intransitive Random Variables 

Date: 19 March 2025, 17:20–18:50 

Location: Corvinus University of Budapest, Building C, Room C105 

We will investigate whether it is possible to label the faces of three dice so that the dice “beat” each other in a cycle; that is, the first die shows a higher number than the second with probability greater than 1/2, the second shows a higher number than the third with probability greater than 1/2, and the third shows a higher number than the first with probability greater than 1/2. This problem arises in many areas, for example in voting theory, and numerous generalizations in different directions can be studied. 

Zsigmond Tarcsay, Associate Professor: Metric Spaces and Their Applications 

Date: 28 April 2025, 17:20–18:50 

Location: Corvinus University of Budapest, Building C, Room C417 

We tend to associate a notion of distance (consciously or unconsciously) with various objects in the world, thereby expressing how “far apart” they are relative to one another. For example, holding three aces in your hand is closer to a poker hand than holding completely different cards. A metric space is an abstract yet highly intuitive mathematical concept that axiomatizes this notion of distance, making it precise and mathematically tractable. The aim of my lecture is to provide a brief introduction to the theory of metric spaces and to present some of their wide-ranging applications.