BSM
COLLOQUIUM   LECTURE
     Professor
       JOEL SPENCER
   (Courant Institute, New York University)
is going to give a talk on
 
                     ERDÕS MAGIC
The colloquium is on
 THURSDAY,  March 17th, 16:15

   in room  102 (look for the signs)


 Abstract:  We explore several examples of the Probabilistic Method, as
developed by Paul Erdos.  We prove the existence of an object (a coloring,
or graph, or tournament, or game stragegy -- just about anything) by
examining a random object (in modern terms, often a randomized algorithms).
We need only to show that the probability of failure is less than one. Then
the probability of success is greater than zero.  Then -- Erdos Magic! --
the object absolutely positively does exist.