Professor sees beauty in numbers

Everything has its beauty but not everyone sees it." This problem, as outlined here by Confucius, is being addressed by UApresents and the UA School of Music and Dance in a free panel discussion entitled, "What is Beauty?" tonight at 7:30 p.m. in the Stevie Eller Dance Theatre.

Scholars from diverse fields of philosophy, dance, art and even mathematics will speak and discuss views of beauty in their respective fields.

"Beauty and elegance are words mathematicians use often," said speaker and professor of mathematics Douglas Ulmer. "It's part of the game in mathematics. When mathematicians are discussing one another's work, it's high praise to say 'that's a beautiful theorem.'"

Part of the UApresents series, "Beauty in Dance," the discussion will begin with panelists speaking for about 10 minutes, followed by a dialogue with the audience and moderator Thomas Kovach, head of the department of German studies.

Event organizer Benita Silvyn, the UApresents education director, said that she had trouble limiting the panelists to only four, as almost every field has a different answer to the question.

But with the speakers she found by asking around various departments, Silvyn said there will be an array of educated opinions.

"I think beauty is an important part of the world," said Silvyn. "We thought it would be interesting to answer the question from different disciplines. I think by hearing other perspectives we can understand other people better and learn from each other."

And while math might not seem to be connected with the physical beauty that people most often think of, don't tell that to a mathematician.

"There's long been an association between mathematics and beauty," Ulmer said. "I actually did a Google search for mathematical beauty and there were a bunch of quotes going back to Aristotle. So it's quite an old notion of mathematical beauty."

Besides Ulmer, there will be three other panelists for the discussion:

Lynne Berkowitz, director of education at the UA Museum of Art.

Joseph Tolliver, associate professor in the department of philosophy.

James Clouser, visiting associate professor of dance.

The event should last until around 9 p.m. The Stevie Eller Dance Theatre is located on the eastern end of the UA Mall.