The PascGalois project has its origin in a simple exercise with Pascal's triangle. Take each entry in the triangle and replace it with its congruent value mod n, where n is a positive integer larger than 1. By assigning each of the values 0, 1, ..., n - 1 a distinct color, patterns reminiscent of fractals appear. Our interest in this construction lies in the fact that addition mod n is the group operation of the cyclic group Zn and the patterns seen in the triangles are related to the structure of these groups. By replacing Zn with other finite groups one can use the same fractal-like patterns to visualize the structure of these non-cyclic groups.
The PascGalois Project was made possible through two grants from the National Science Foundation, DUE-0087644 and DUE-0339477.
For more information or questions about the project please contact us at,
Dr. Mike Bardzell
Department of Mathematics and Computer Science
Henson School of Science & Technology
Henson Hall, 132C
Salisbury University
Salisbury, Maryland 21801
mjbardzell@salisbury.edu
Dr. Kathleen Shannon
Department of Mathematics and Computer Science
Henson School of Science & Technology
Devilbis Hall, 105
Salisbury University
Salisbury, Maryland 21801
kmshannon@salisbury.edu
Dr. Don Spickler
Department of Mathematics and Computer Science
Henson School of Science & Technology
Henson Hall, 132E
Salisbury University
Salisbury, Maryland 21801
despickler@salisbury.edu