William A. Cherry

Associate Professor of Mathematics

University of North Texas


 
 

Office Hours

Spring 2023

Drop in Office Hours: MW 4:30-6:30 (beginning Jan 23)

Office Location: General Academic Building (GAB) 405

Virtual Drop-in Office Hours via Zoom (Zoom ID 207 526 8265)

Click here to schedule a virtual or in-person office hours appointment at times other than the above "drop-in" hours.

Contact Information

E-mail:  wcherry@unt.edu

Fax: (940) 565-4805
 
Mailing Address: Department of Mathematics
University of North Texas
1155 Union Circle #311430
Denton, TX  76203-5017
  
Delivery Address: Department of Mathematics
General Academic Building, Room 435
University of North Texas
225 S. Avenue B (Avenue B at Mulberry)
Denton, TX  76203

 
 

Spring '23 Courses

Math 3740 -- Vector Calculus
Class Meets MWF 12-12:50 in BLB 035.
Math 4060 -- Foundations of Geometry
Class Meets MWF 10-10:50 in LANG 223.

Research Interests

I have done work that can be considered complex analysis, number theory, and algebraic geometry. I am especially interested in connections between rational solutions and functional solutions to systems of algebraic equations. For instance, consider the equation of the unit circle, x2+y2=1. This equation has many rational solutions, such as (3/5)2+(4/5)2=1, coming from Pythagorean triples. The unit circle equation also has the "functional solution" (sin t)2+(cos t)2=1. On the other hand, if n>3, then xn+yn=1 has only a few rational solutions (this is Fermat's Last Theorem/Wiles's Theorem or the Mordell Conjecture/Faltings's Theorem, depending on what one means by "few" and "rational"). Similarly, xn+yn=1 has no non-constant "entire function" solutions -- this follows easily from, for instance, the Uniformization theorem. One area I often work in is a field called "p-adic" analysis. Working with functions of p-adic numbers is sort of halfway in between algebra and analysis, so the idea is it might help us understand how functional solutions are related to rational solutions. Another area I work in is Nevanlinna theory, which extends the Fundamental Theorem of Algebra to meromorphic functions. Finally, I have research interests in classical complex analysis, particularly using geometric methods to better understand various inequalities.
 
 

Graduate Advising

If you are a UNT mathematics graduate student looking for an advisor and are considering asking me, here is some basic information.
 

Publications

  click here for a list of my publications or click here to find my preprints on the arXiv.
 
Click here to see my author profile in Mathematical Reviews.

Click here to see my citations according to Google Scholar.

Look me up in the Mathematics Genealogy Project.
 
 

Educational/Professional History

  click here for a brief description of my educational and professional background
 
 
 

Maple Tutorial

Click here for a brief introduction to the computer algebra system Maple

 
 

Fun and Games

Click here to generate some "fractal" graphics associated with Newton's method.

 
 
 

Miscellany

Beautiful Numbers, by John R. Swallow [American Scholar 64 (1995)]: A delightful essay written by a graduate school colleague of mine about his transformation from a first-year graduate student to a successful mathematician and scholar. I recommend this essay to new graduate students struggling with deciding what to study, who to choose as an advisor, and finding one's personal mathematical aesthetic.
Ludic Proof: Greek Mathematics and the Alexandrian Aesthetic, by Reviel Netz [Cambridge, 2009]: A book I am looking forward to reading about the literary qualities of mathematics and commonalities between writing mathematics (which I mostly understand) and writing poetry (which I mostly don't understand, but admire nonetheless).


 
 
 
 
 
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