Gateway to Exploring Mathematical Sciences (GEMS) December Session

Randomness: Creating Order from Chaos

This GEMS session will be facilitated by Professor Ryan Aschoff from the Claremont Graduate University. Abstract: From the hiss of white noise to the gentle hum of ocean waves, randomness surrounds us — yet hidden within that chaos lies remarkable order. In this talk, we’ll explore how unpredictable events, when viewed collectively, give rise to smooth and universal patterns. We’ll listen to and visualize the “colors” of noise — white, pink, and brown — to see how sound encodes randomness across different frequencies. We’ll discover how unrelated random events, like coin flips or marble drops, merge into beautifully predictable bell-shaped distributions. And we’ll watch how diffusion and blurring transform disorder into structure, revealing the same mathematics behind sound, heat, and motion.