Investigations of a Chip-firing Game

Authors

Dave Perkins, Houghton College, University of Montana - Ph.D. Candidate

Document Type

Presentation Abstract

Presentation Date

5-5-2005

Abstract

During the past twenty years, physicists have been using "chip-firing games" to model events in such naturally occurring systems as the earth's crust, snowfields, and the human brain. These chip-firing game models have been studied primarily via computer simulation. It is the purpose of my dissertation to investigate a chip-firing game using a strictly mathematical approach, thereby producing a method for analytically determining the probability distribution of the length of a game on a given connected graph. In this talk, I will introduce the audience to chip-firing games and contrast the simulation approach with the new analytical methods.

Additional Details

This talk is based on the presenter's Ph.D. Dissertation.

Thursday, 5 May 2005
4:10 p.m. in Math 109

Recommended Citation

Perkins, Dave, "Investigations of a Chip-firing Game" (2005). Colloquia of the Department of Mathematical Sciences. 197.
https://scholarworks.umt.edu/mathcolloquia/197