Benjamin Braun
Assistant Professor
University of Kentucky

Office Location, Office Hours, and Current Courses:

• My office is #831 Patterson Office Tower.
• Office hours for Fall 2008: Mondays and Fridays, 2:00-2:50PM, or by appointment.
• Courses, Fall 2008:
  • MA 714, Topics in Discrete Mathematics: Topological Methods in Combinatorics
  • MA 515, Linear Programming and Combinatorial Optimization

About me:

• I am an Assistant Professor in the Discrete Mathematics Research Group in the Department of Mathematics at the University of Kentucky.
• My mathematical genealogy can be traced via The Mathematics Genealogy Project.
• From July 1, 2008 through June 30, 2010, I am partially supported by the National Science Foundation via award DMS-0758321.
• I am a member of the following organizations:
  • American Mathematical Society
  • Mathematical Association of America
  • Association for Women in Mathematics
• Research Interests
• Papers and Preprints
• Previous Courses (including syllabi) & Talk List

My mathematical blog:

• benbraun.wordpress.com

UK Putnam Practice Problems: (updated on Mondays)

• UK Putnam Practice Problems

Links:

• Mathematics Education References
• Interesting Mathematics Books
• AMS Mathscinet (may require subscription or proxy login)
• Launchings by David Bressoud
• How Euler Did It by Ed Sandifer
• www.combinatorics.org.
• Graduate Student Council, University of Kentucky
• Center for Digital Research in the Humanities

Computer Stuff:

• Ubuntu, a linux distribution that is rather friendly to people looking to make a switch to linux.
• Distrowatch, where you can research linux distributions.
• Linux Online, an online community for linux users including a nice "Linux 101" tutorial.
• Information regarding UK math and stat computing.
• UK math and stat webmail.
• LattE, a program for counting lattice points in lattice polytopes.
• Barvinok, another program for counting lattice points in lattice polytopes.
• Polymake, essential software for experimental investigation of polytopes.
• GAP -- Groups, Algorithms, Programming, essential software for Computational Discrete Algebra.
• Simplicial Homology, a share package for GAP that computes simplicial homology for simplicial complexes.
• Latex is a fantastic system for writing mathematics. While it might appear more complicated than Open Office or Microsoft Word (as it is a document preparation system rather than a word processor), writing in Latex goes as quickly as with common word processing programs once you learn the basics. Further, nothing else even comes close to the quality of a document prepared with Latex.
  • www.latex-project.org
  • A nice introduction to the LaTeX structure and commands can be found here
  • A large list of commands for LaTeX symbols can be found here. Section 1.2 of this document, on page 8, collects commonly requested symbols. If you are just starting out, I'd look there to see if your question can be answered.
  • Xfig, vector drawing software for linux that is suitable for use with LaTeX.
  • Tex Users Group, a source of information for all questions about LaTeX.

Guess what else keeps me busy...

"These are the thoughts of all men in all ages and lands, they are not original with me,
If they are not yours as much as mine they are nothing or next to nothing,
If they do not enclose everything they are next to nothing,
If they are not the riddle and the untying of the riddle they are nothing,
If they are not just as close as they are distant they are nothing.
This is the grass that grows wherever the land is and the water is,
This is the common air that bathes the globe."

Leaves of Grass, Walt Whitman