WebSpot Topics

• On Cantor's Diagonalization Argument.

Brief Bio

Katharine grew up in a log cabin in the Poconos, where her pets included a pit bull named Emmy (as in Noether) and a shiba inu named Akio Morita. Such mathematical curiosities as tessellation socks, Platonic solid dice, and posters featuring the stella octangula figured prominently in her childhood.

Having completed an uneventful four years of high school in the Philadelphia suburbs—her lone triumph was correctly guessing that there are at least one and at most three Friday the Thirteenths in each calendar year—While at Swarthmore, Katharine majored in mathematics and linguistics, subsisted mainly on cereal and salad, and developed a dependence on earplugs. After years of indecision, during the summer before her senior year, she abruptly hit upon a (tentative) life plan. Her ultimate fate remains to be seen.

Question & Answer

What was your favorite math experience?

My favorite math lecture in recent memory was about the limiting parallels of hyperbolic geometry. I'm not sure why, but I was literally on the edge of my seat in suspense as we hashed out whether or not a limiting ray in fact intersects the line l under consideration...(it doesn't).

What do you hope to be doing next year this time?

This time next year I hope to be working toward a master's degree in the history of mathematics, possibly in the rainy, vegan-friendly city of Vancouver.

What advice would you give freshman and sophomores considering majoring in mathematics and statistics?

If unsure of whether a math/stat major is for you, try taking a course in the department each semester, and see if the discipline grows on you. If you know from the beginning that you want to go on in math, double up every once in a while to build yourself a strong foundation. Take advantage of your professors' availability and willingness to answer incessant questions.