David Perkinson
Professor Emeritus of Mathematics · Reed College
davidp at reed.edu ·
Department of Mathematics ·
Reed College
My work centers on combinatorial algebraic geometry, with a focus on the abelian sandpile model, chip-firing, and divisor theory on graphs.
Textbook published by the AMS, with Scott Corry. An introduction to chip-firing and divisor theory on graphs.
Read more →Interactive WebGL sandpile explorer. Watch the identity element and other configurations emerge.
Launch →Author of the sandpiles module and co-author of the hyperplane arrangements module in SageMath.
Sandpiles →Lecture notes from courses taught at Reed College, 1991–2024.
Over three decades at Reed, I advised more than 50 senior theses on topics ranging from sandpile theory to tropical geometry to the mathematics of juggling.
Concertina and fiddle duets with my daughter Joy, mbira recordings by my son Cole, and experiments in sandpile-generated music.