Geometry: New Tools for New Technologies: Hour 1: Unit 2: Connecting The Dots Vertex Coloring

How is geometry used to program a robot's movement? How do zoo planners use geometry to make habitats that are enjoyable and safe? Why do people who plan garbage pickups and snowplow routes need geometry? Geometry: New Tools for New Technologies I and II explores the exciting world of Geometry in the 20th century.

Unit 2: Connecting The Dots Vertex Coloring (9:54)

Summary of the Video

Connecting the Dots: Vertex Coloring develops geometrical methods to help resolve conflict situations. Host mathematician Alan Tucker (State University of New York—Stony Brook) introduces diagrams called graphs, which consist of dots and lines. Graphs can be used to represent information about conflicts between animals in the same habitat at a zoo, conflicts between committee meeting times of a legislature, or conflicts in scheduling examinations at a school. By coloring the dots of the graph, such conflicts can be resolved in as efficient a manner as possible. The use of the word “colors” arises from the historical roots of such problems in which geographers attempt to color countries on a VAL globe or a map with as few colors as possible.

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