{ "event_id": "1109304", "eventinstance_id": "4109685", "calendar": { "id": 1862, "title": "Events", "slug": "events", "url": "https://events.ucf.edu/calendar/1862/events/" }, "id": "4109685", "title": "Colloquium by Professor Steven J. Miller, Williams College", "subtitle": null, "description": "\u003Cp\u003EOur\u003Cspan\u003E\u0026nbsp\u003B\u003C/span\u003E\u003Ca href\u003D\u0022https://sciences.ucf.edu/math/colloquium/\u0022 target\u003D\u0022_blank\u0022\u003Ecolloquium\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u0026nbsp\u003B\u003C/span\u003Eseries offers a diverse platform for research scholars, faculty, students, and industry experts to share and exchange ideas, fostering discussion and networking across mathematics, statistics, and data science.\u003C/p\u003E\u000A\u003Cp\u003EDr. \u003Ca href\u003D\u0022https://web.williams.edu/Mathematics/sjmiller/public_html/\u0022 target\u003D\u0022_blank\u0022\u003ESteven J. Miller \u003C/a\u003Efrom Williams College will speak at this week\u0027s colloquium on \u0022\u003Cstrong\u003E\u003Cem\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EBenford\u0027s Law: Why the IRS might care about the 3x+1 problem and zeta(s)\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/em\u003E\u003C/strong\u003E.\u0022\u003C/p\u003E\u000A\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EAbstract:\u003Cspan\u003E \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/strong\u003EMany systems exhibit a digit bias. For example, the first digit base 10 of the Fibonacci numbers or of 2^n equals 1 about 30% of the time\u003B the IRS uses this digit bias to detect fraudulent corporate tax returns. This phenomenon, known as Benford\u0027s Law, was first noticed by observing which pages of log tables were most worn from age \u002D\u002D it\u0027s a good thing there were no calculators 100 years ago! We\u0027ll discuss the general theory and applications, talk about some fun examples (ranging from the 3x+1 problem to the Riemann zeta function), and if time permits discuss some current open problems suitable for undergraduate research projects.\u003C/p\u003E\u000A\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ESpeaker Bio:\u003Cspan\u003E \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/strong\u003EGraduated with a B.S. in math and physics from Yale and a Ph.D. in math from Princeton, Miller has supervised 600+ students and written 200+ papers in accounting, computer science, economics, geophysics, marketing, mathematics, operations research, physics, sabermetrics, and statistics. He\u0027s the Associate Director of the Williams SMALL REU, a founding member of the Polymath Jr Summer Research Program (and always looking for new collaborators), and the President of the Fibonacci Association. He loves multi\u002Dtasking, preferably with his family (who have published a few papers with him, and some interesting bridge problems), and can teach people how to poorly solve a rubik\u0027s cube in under an hour.\u003C/p\u003E", "location": "MSB 318: Mathematical Sciences Building, Room 318", "location_url": "https://www.ucf.edu/location/mathematical\u002Dsciences\u002Dbuilding/", "virtual_url": null, "registration_link": null, "registration_info": null, "starts": "Fri, 01 May 2026 10:30:00 -0400", "ends": "Fri, 01 May 2026 11:30:00 -0400", "ongoing": "False", "category": "Speaker/Lecture/Seminar", "tags": [ 503 Service Unavailable

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,"UCF Mathematics"], "contact_name": "Wissam Ghantous", "contact_phone": null, "contact_email": "wissam.ghantous@ucf.edu", "url": "https://events.ucf.edu/event/4109685/colloquium-by-professor-steven-j-miller-williams-college/" }