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In 1987 Bak, Tang, and Weisenfeld introduced a mathematical model of a sandpile
in an effort to explain how a certain type of complexity—so-called "self-organized
criticality"—arises in the natural world. A version of their model,
formulated by Dhar in 1990, has connections with combinatorics,
algebraic geometry, and number theory.
I will present work done with Reed student Dani Morar relating
Dhar's sandpile model to tilings of checkerboards by dominoes.
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