Mathematics is a powerful language used in such popular applications as The Known Universe. However, the documentation is notoriously terse.

The Mathematics User Group (MUG) will serve the Portland tech community by bridging the gap between abstract mathematical language and concrete problems that programmers come across in the coding trenches.

This first session will be for coming up with topics of interest, and for working specific problems that come up in our projects. We hope to have future sessions each 3rd Wednesday.

Project Euler is a great way to practice programming and keep your math skills sharp.

This is a bi-weekly meetup/study session for folks working on or interested in Euler problems. We'll pick unsolved problems and tackle them as a group.

We're colocated with SEPoCoNi, so feel free to group surf.

speaker: Dana Jacobsen

Dana will give a brief introduction to primes, primality testing, and sieves, then show examples in Perl. Dana is the author of the Math::Prime::Util module on CPAN. Outline:

• Primes
• Applications
• Primality testing in Perl
• Sieves
• 15 sieve implementations in Perl including a new string-based sieve
• 6 CPAN modules
• Performance and memory use
• Prime Counting

Sadly a lot of the web examples of Perl sieves are quite bad, often 3-6x slower than Perl can do. We can do better! There are also a number of CPAN modules related to primes, which will briefly be covered.

As usual, the meeting will be followed by social hour at the Lucky Lab Brew Pub.

Inspired by Hermann Hesse's novel "The Glass Bead Game", the Glass Plate Game, is essentially a conversation in the trappings of a board game. The idea is to spark creative and interesting dialog as the players explore connections between ideas against a dynamic mosaic map. There are no winners or losers. There is no order of play. Conversation flows throughout, and the end result is an artifact of the conversation, which can, itself, become a subject of further discussion. The topic of the game begins as The Math and Science in Sci-Fi

(the meta-game). We will begin with an introduction to the Game then launch right into playing. If you can't make it on time or stay the whole time, come anyway! It's better to see you briefly than not at all. The Game can last as long as we want it to, and go in any direction. After playing, there will be time for interested parties to talk further.

Through the implementation of an honest-to-goodness Bayesian classifier, we’ll tour the major topics of supervised machine learning: tokenization, feature selection and vectorization, model training and tuning, and execution. Time permitting, we’ll touch on other techniques and topics.

About the speaker:

John Melesky’s been programming on the web since gopher was a legitimate competitor. He is the team lead for the Analytics team at Janrain, where he gets to get his hands covered in all sorts of interesting data.

"No talks. You may opt to take up to 60 seconds to complain about Big Data. One paper per month, no obligation to read it."

We'll start by letting anyone who wants to take up to a minute to tell us what they've been doing with data lately.

This month's paper is A time-efficient, linear-space local similarity algorithm by Huang and Miller. Read it or don't - the goal is just to have something to start conversations. "Did you read the paper?" will do nicely.

Mention @PDXBigData on Twitter with the link to the full paper to suggest papers for future sessions.

"No talks. You may opt to take up to 60 seconds to complain about Big Data. One paper per month, no obligation to read it."

We'll start by letting anyone who wants to take up to a minute to tell us what they've been doing with data lately.

This month's paper is Disk Aware Discord Discovery: Finding Unusual Time Series in Terabyte Sized Datasets by Yankov, Keogh and Rebbapragada. Read it or don't - the goal is just to have something to start conversations. "Did you read the paper?" will do nicely.

Mention @PDXBigData on Twitter with the link to the full paper to suggest papers for future sessions.

"No talks. You may opt to take up to 60 seconds to complain about Big Data. One paper per month, no obligation to read it."

We'll start by letting anyone who wants to take up to a minute to tell us what they've been doing with data lately.

This month's paper is Large-Scale Matrix Factorization with Distributed Stochastic Gradient Descent by Gemulla, Haas, Nijkamp and Sismanis. Read it or don't - the goal is just to have something to start conversations. "Did you read the paper?" will do nicely.

Mention @PDXBigData on Twitter with the link to the full paper to suggest papers for future sessions.

"No talks. You may opt to take up to 60 seconds to complain about Big Data. One paper per month, no obligation to read it."

We'll start by letting anyone who wants to take up to a minute to tell us what they've been doing with data lately.

This month's paper is Computational Methods for Dynamic Graphs by Cortes, Pregibon, and Volinsky. Read it or don't - the goal is just to have something to start conversations. "Did you read the paper?" will do nicely.

Mention @PDXBigData on Twitter with the link to the full paper to suggest papers for future sessions.

"No talks. You may opt to take up to 60 seconds to complain about Big Data. One paper per month, no obligation to read it."

We'll start by letting anyone who wants to take up to a minute to tell us what they've been doing with data lately.

This month's paper is Ad Click Prediction: a View from the Trenches by McMahan et al. Read it or don't - the goal is just to have something to start conversations. "Did you read the paper?" will do nicely.

Mention @PDXBigData on Twitter with the link to the full paper to suggest papers for future sessions.

"No talks. One paper per month, no obligation to read it."

This month's paper is Austerity in MCMC Land: Cutting the Metropolis-Hastings Budget by Korattikara, Chen, and Welling. Read it or don't - the goal is just to have something to start conversations. "Did you read the paper?" will do nicely.

Mention @PDXBigData on Twitter with the link to the full paper to suggest papers for future sessions.

CANCELED! Forecast is calling for 3-7 inches of snow tonight, the sinus plague is going around, and it's just damn cold. See you in March!

"No talks. One paper per month, no obligation to read it."

This month's paper is Image Mining of Historical Manuscripts to Establish Provenance by Hu et al. Read it or don't - the goal is just to have something to start conversations. "Did you read the paper?" will do nicely.

Mention @PDXBigData on Twitter with the link to the full paper to suggest papers for future sessions.

This is EAST Knowledge's second meeting. All our welcome. We look forward to seeing you there!

• What: Don't Touch That Data!
• Who: Jim Rulla
• Where: The Computer Lab at the Gresham Library
• When: 10:30am-Noon, Saturday, March 8, 2014
• Why: Sharing what we know

There's a serious problem: the hardware is spewing out data, but the answer is wrong. It's too late to redesign, and besides, the product ought to work. Another filter and some ad hoc software will have to suffice — until new problems arise.

Sound familiar? If the textbook analysis doesn't apply to your problem, no filter and no software hack will help. The only reliable way to fix the problem is to model it correctly, then solve the model problem.

I will show how incorrect modeling sets back — and in some cases, destroys — product development. The examples:

• are real,
• are simple (when solved correctly), and
• illustrate techniques you can apply to your projects.

The examples include applications from audio, optical, and communications engineering.

The right model is almost always simpler to understand and easier to solve than the wrong models. Come see how you can simplify your project!

"No talks. One paper per month, no obligation to read it."

This month's paper is Image Mining of Historical Manuscripts to Establish Provenance by Hu et al. Read it or don't - the goal is just to have something to start conversations. "Did you read the paper?" will do nicely.

Mention @PDXBigData on Twitter with the link to the full paper to suggest papers for future sessions.

"No talks. One paper per month, no obligation to read it."

This month's paper is Palette Power: Enabling Visual Search through Colors by Bhardwaj et al. Read it or don't - the goal is just to have something to start conversations. "Did you read the paper?" will do nicely.

Mention @PDXBigData on Twitter with the link to the full paper to suggest papers for future sessions.

"No talks. One paper per month, no obligation to read it."

This month's paper is Profiler: Integrated Statistical Analysis and Visualization for Data Quality Assessment by Kandel et al. Read it or don't - the goal is just to have something to start conversations. "Did you read the paper?" will do nicely.

Mention @PDXBigData on Twitter with the link to the full paper to suggest papers for future sessions.

"No talks. One paper per month, no obligation to read it."

This month's paper is High-Dimensional Visual Analytics: Interactive Exploration Guided by Pairwise Views of Point Distributions by Wilkinson et al. Read it or don't - the goal is just to have something to start conversations. "Did you read the paper?" will do nicely.

Mention @PDXBigData on Twitter with the link to the full paper to suggest papers for future sessions.

This is EAST Knowledge's third meeting. All our welcome. We look forward to seeing you there!

• What: Introduction to IPython Notebook
• Who: Charles Stanhope
• Where: The Computer Lab at the Gresham Library
• When: 10:30am-Noon, Saturday, June 14, 2014
• Why: Sharing what we know

Come and learn about IPython Notebook interactive computing environment! An open source project used and developed by a community of scientists and engineers, IPython Notebook is a powerful tool that can save time and effort, and allows you to:

• Rapidly prototype and explore algorithmic ideas
• Easily share results
• Replicate work
• Freely collaborate
• Leverage a large body of existing libraries

Charles will introduce and demonstrate IPython Notebook. He hopes to have a live system that can be used by the audience. All you will need is WiFi, a web browser, and some curiosity. So bring a laptop!

"No talks. One paper per month, no obligation to read it."

This month's paper is Mondrian Forests: Efficient Online Random Forests by Lakshminarayanan et al. Read it or don't - the goal is just to have something to start conversations. "Did you read the paper?" will do nicely.

Mention @PDXBigData on Twitter with the link to the full paper to suggest papers for future sessions.

"No talks. You may opt to take up to 60 seconds to complain about Big Data. One paper per month, no obligation to read it."

We'll start by letting anyone who wants to take up to a minute to tell us what they've been doing with data lately.

This month's paper is Dynamo: Amazon’s Highly Available Key-value Store by DeCandia etal. Read it or don't - the goal is just to have something to start conversations. "Did you read the paper?" will do nicely.

Mention @PDXBigData on Twitter with the link to the full paper to suggest papers for future sessions.

"No talks. You may opt to take up to 60 seconds to complain about Big Data. One paper per month, no obligation to read it."

We'll start by letting anyone who wants to take up to a minute to tell us what they've been doing with data lately.

This month's paper is A Crowd of Your Own: Crowdsourcing for On-Demand Personalization by Organisciak etal. Read it or don't - the goal is just to have something to start conversations. "Did you read the paper?" will do nicely.

Mention @PDXBigData on Twitter with the link to the full paper to suggest papers for future sessions.

"No talks. You may opt to take up to 60 seconds to complain about Big Data. One paper per month, no obligation to read it."

We'll start by letting anyone who wants to take up to a minute to tell us what they've been doing with data lately.

This month's paper is Beyond Clicks: Dwell Time for Personalization by Yi etal. Read it or don't - the goal is just to have something to start conversations. "Did you read the paper?" will do nicely.

Mention @PDXBigData on Twitter with the link to the full paper to suggest papers for future sessions.

There will be pizza.

EAST Knowledge would like to do something a little more relaxed for our next meeting. We invite you to join us for coffee and pastries. We're going to hang out for a couple of hours, so feel free to come by, talk shop, show off what you're working on, ask questions and pick each other's brains. We look forward to seeing you there!

• What: Coffee Break
• Where: Banaka & Browns Artisan Bakery and Coffee House
• When: 10:00am-Noon, Saturday, November 8th, 2014
• Why: Sharing what we know and what we're up to

"No talks. You may opt to take up to 60 seconds to complain about Big Data. One paper per month, no obligation to read it."

We'll start by letting anyone who wants to take up to a minute to tell us what they've been doing with data lately.

This month's paper is Materialization Strategies in a Column-Oriented DBMS by Abadi etal. Read it or don't - the goal is just to have something to start conversations. "Did you read the paper?" will do nicely.

Mention @PDXBigData on Twitter with the link to the full paper to suggest papers for future sessions.

There will be pizza.

"No talks. You may opt to take up to 60 seconds to complain about Big Data. One paper per month, no obligation to read it."

We'll start by letting anyone who wants to take up to a minute to tell us what they've been doing with data lately.

This month's paper is Large-Scale High-Precision Topic Modeling on Twitter by Yang etal. Read it or don't - the goal is just to have something to start conversations. "Did you read the paper?" will do nicely.

Mention @PDXBigData on Twitter with the link to the full paper to suggest papers for future sessions.

There will be pizza.

2015 is starting out with a bang! ChickTech is busier than ever planning a bunch of great events, activities and workshops for all our women and girls!

Start your new year off right with ChickTech! We'd like to invite you and all ChickTech Volunteers to join us for an evening of productivity, pizza, beer, and meeting other ChickTech volunteers - new and experienced. Join in to experience some hands-on volunteering projects, find out what exciting events and activities are in store at ChickTech, and see our new office!

Haven't volunteered with ChickTech yet?

You're welcome, too! Meet other volunteers, work on a volunteer project, and learn about future volunteer opportunities.

Tentative Agenda 6pm-6:15pm - Welcome from Board Members, eat pizza, drink beer

6:15pm-6:30pm - Icebreaker. Get to know your fellow ChickTech volunteers!

6:30pm-6:50pm - Introduction to tonight's volunteer projects

6:50pm-7:10pm - New to ChickTech? We'll have an orientation, just for you.

6:50pm-9pm - Make a real impact with ChickTech and work on volunteer projects

Pizza and beer will be provided.

• Bring a laptop if you have one! *

Join our meetup page!

"No talks. You may opt to take up to 60 seconds to complain about Big Data. One paper per month, no obligation to read it."

We'll start by letting anyone who wants to take up to a minute to tell us what they've been doing with data lately.

This month's paper is Visual Analysis of Large Heterogeneous Social Networks by Semantic and Structural Abstraction by Shen etal. Read it or don't - the goal is just to have something to start conversations. "Did you read the paper?" will do nicely.

Mention @PDXBigData on Twitter with the link to the full paper to suggest papers for future sessions.

There will be pizza.

The Division of Mathematics and Natural Sciences at Reed College invites you to a public lecture by Prof. Harry L. Swinney, Sid Richardson Foundation Regents Chair of Physics and Director of the Center for Nonlinear Dynamics at the University of Texas at Austin. Prof. Swinney is one of the pioneering figures in the study of chaos theory and his lab has played a leading role in the study of nonlinear dynamics over the past 40 years. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and his work has been recognized with numerous awards, including the Moser Prize, the Richardson Medal, and the Boltzmann Medal.

From spatial patterns like the stripes on a zebra to temporal patterns like the rhythmic beating of the heart, patterns are ubiquitous in nature. Understanding how these patterns emerge is one of science’s most enduring mysteries. In this lecture, aimed at a general audience, Prof. Swinney will discuss how ordered patterns emerge as systems are driven away from thermodynamic equilibrium. While no general theory of pattern formation currently exists, new analysis techniques, experiments, and computational methods can provide general insights into pattern formation in a diversity of physical, chemical, and biological systems.

Spontaneous pattern formation in bacterial colonies

Sponsored by the Office of the Dean of the Faculty at Reed College.

"No talks. You may opt to take up to 60 seconds to complain about Big Data. One paper per month, no obligation to read it."

We'll start by letting anyone who wants to take up to a minute to tell us what they've been doing with data lately.

This month's paper is Geotagging One Hundred Million Twitter Accounts with Total Variation Minimization by Compton etal. Read it or don't - the goal is just to have something to start conversations. "Did you read the paper?" will do nicely.

Mention @PDXBigData on Twitter with the link to the full paper to suggest papers for future sessions.

There will be food.

EAST Knowledge invites you to attend our fifth meeting! All are welcome!

• What: Locating Intrusions Using Fiber Optics
• Who: Jim Rulla
• Where: The Story Room at the Gresham Library
• When: 10:30am-Noon, Saturday, April 18, 2015
• Why: Sharing what we know

Interferometers measure distances to within fractions of the wavelength of light. Put a couple of these incredibly sensitive devices on the fence around an airport, and you can not merely detect a would-be intruder — you can locate him. Put a pair on a pipeline, and you can not merely detect nearby digging that could damage the pipe — you can locate its source. You might even be able to detect — and perhaps even locate — leaks in the pipe.

The detection and location mechanisms are fascinating examples of clever engineering. I'll explain how these patented systems work and illustrate new algorithms that improve performance.

• Wikipedia page on interferometers

We'd like to invite you and all ChickTech Volunteers to join us for an evening of productivity, pizza, beer, and meeting other ChickTech volunteers - new and experienced. Join in to experience some hands-on volunteering projects, find out what exciting events and activities are in store at ChickTech, and see our new office!

Haven't volunteered with ChickTech yet?

You're welcome, too! Meet other volunteers, work on a volunteer project, and learn about future volunteer opportunities.

Tentative Agenda 6pm-6:15pm - Welcome from Board Members, eat pizza, drink beer

6:15pm-6:30pm - Icebreaker. Get to know your fellow ChickTech volunteers!

6:30pm-6:50pm - Introduction to tonight's volunteer projects

6:50pm-7:10pm - New to ChickTech? We'll have an orientation, just for you.

6:50pm-9pm - Make a real impact with ChickTech and work on volunteer projects

Pizza and beer will be provided.

• Bring a laptop if you have one! *

Join our meetup page!

"No talks. You may opt to take up to 60 seconds to complain about Big Data. One paper per month, no obligation to read it."

We'll start by letting anyone who wants to take up to a minute to tell us what they've been doing with data lately.

This month's paper is Feature Selection For High-Dimensional Clustering by Wasserman, Azizyan, and Singh. Read it or don't - the goal is just to have something to start conversations. "Did you read the paper?" will do nicely.

Mention @PDXBigData on Twitter with the link to the full paper to suggest papers for future sessions.

There will be food.

We are happy to announce that we will be holding our second event at Latte Da in downtown Vancouver!

This is an opportunity to meet and engage others who work in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) related fields here in the SW Washington area, so be sure to bring business cards and information on projects you may be working on, opportunities for others in the community, etc.

Those of you wanting something non-caffeinated after work will be glad to know the venue also has beer and wine available.

Looking forward to another hour of networking and supporting local business!

Collective Eye Films and the Hollywood Theatre present the film Big Dream, a film that promotes women and girls to pursue their dreams in the Math, Science, Engineering, and Technology fields.

Big Dream follows the intimate stories of seven young women who are breaking barriers and overcoming personal challenges to follow their passion in science, math, computing & engineering (STEM) fields. Through video diaries and verité moments, each of these girls defy the stereotype of what it means to be an over achieving woman in the fields of technology. From small town Iowa to the busy streets of the Middle East, Big Dream immerses viewers in a world designed by the next generation of girls. Watch the trailer here: https://vimeo.com/145552629

Join the filmmaker and industry professionals from ChickTech and PDXWIT after the event for a conversation about taking initiative to build girls' confidence in their capabilities and the importance of gender diversity in STEM fields.

RSVP on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/506175236260505/