Westminster College Hosts Mathematics Colloquium

The Westminster College Mathematics and Computer Science Department recently hosted a mathematics colloquium featuring Dr. Lawrence Downey, professor of mathematics at Penn State University Behrend.

Downey's topic was "A Question of Walter Rudin and Repelling Points." The Open Mapping Theorem for linear mapping is a fundamental theorem of analysis. In 1966, Walter Rudin posed a question about the possibility of a similar result for more general multi-linear mappings. Downey's research is based on Rudin's question and provides a basis for a more general description of a certain pathology possessed by some functions.

Downey's specialty is functional analysis and operator theory, but he also does work in signal analysis and image processing. His most recent publication is "On the Openness of Surjective Operators; Repelling Points," published in 2006 in the International Journal of Pure and Applied Mathematics.

Contact Mary Elchison, secretary of the department of math and computer science, at (724) 946-7284 or e-mail elchisma@westminster.edu for more information.

More Stories