Su believes math has interesting things to say about how people relate to one another. When mathematical objects have a social interpretation, the associated results have social applications. In the second part of the Dresden Memorial lecture series, he shows how some classical and new mathematics can be used to understand voting in “agreeable” societies. Throughout the lecture, he discusses these proofs in a way that the audience can follow even if they haven’t taken any math.
 
Francis Edward Su is the Benediktsson-Karwa Professor of Mathematics at Harvey Mudd College. He received a Bachelors in Math from the University of Texas, and his PhD from Harvard. He has taught at Cornell and Caltech. He has been president of the Mathematical Association of America has been featured in the New York Times.