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Mon 09/27
Eitan Bachmat headshot

Seminar @ Cornell Tech: Eitan Bachmat

The Geometry of Grade Point Averages (multicriteria ranking)

When we try to compare students who have each taken several classes, or standardized tests (say, the same ones), we often compute a weighted average of their scores, a GPA. In the talk, we will claim that ranking students according to GPA is the same as considering an empty and relatively boring universe from the point of view of a boring inertial traveler who is insensitive to the grades themselves.

Speaker Bio

Eitan Bachmat received his PhD in mathematics from M.I.T. and is currently a professor of computer science at Ben-Gurion University. Eitan works on problems in the areas of Storage Systems, Performance analysis, Systems engineering, Operations research, Autism, Personalized Medicine and Digital healthcare, using techniques from Physics, Mathematics and Computer Science. He is an expert on airplane boarding and express line queues and how they relate to relativity theory and number theory respectively. Eitan also works closely with industry and various organizations on diverse applications and holds 41 patents.