An assistant professor of mathematics at Lyon College recently shared his research in his talk, “Turning the Cauchy-Schwarz Inequality into an Equality.”

Dr. Christopher Schwanke explained that he studies mathematics “from an order-theoretic perspective,” meaning he focuses more on the “less than or equal to signs.” He co-authored his research with Dr. Gerard Buskes.

“For about 90 years, mathematicians in my research area have been shedding new light on classical results by looking at mathematical concepts from this order-theoretic perspective,” he said.

“My talk fell in line with this theme [because] my colleague and I turned the Cauchy-Schwarz inequality into an equality, thus determining the exact difference between its two sides.”

Senior in mathematics Jordan Trant said her favorite part of Schwanke’s talk was how “clever” his research is. Trant recognized how much it takes to be able to think outside the box mathematically.

“Dr. S and his collaborator were really clever with how they created their equation,” she said. “He was very humble in his presentation, but that research is actually very outstanding.”

Though Schwanke’s talk is the last faculty colloquium of the semester, Provost Melissa Taverner said she plans to continue the series in the upcoming fall semester.