Mathematics in Everyday Life

Gilad Lerman Department of Mathematics University of Minnesota

Highland park elementary (6th graders)

What homework do I give What do mathematicians do? my students?

Example of a recent homework: Denoising

What projects do I assign What do mathematicians do? my students?

Example of a recent project: Recognizing Panoramas Panorama: wide view of a physical space

How to obtain a panorama?

How to obtain a panorama

1. By rotating line camera 2. Stitching together multiple images Your camera can do it this way E.g. PhotoStitch (Canon PowerShot SD600)

Experiment with PhotoStitch

Input: 10 images along a bridge

Experiment done by Rebecca Szarkowski

Experiment continued
Output: Panorama (PhotoStitch)

Output: Panorama (by a more careful mathematical algorithm)

Experiment done by Rebecca Szarkowski

New Topic: Relation of Imaging Whats math got to do with it? and Mathematics
From visual images to numbers (or digital images)

Digital Image Acquisition

From Numbers to Images

Let us type the following numbers
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

We then color them so 1=black, 8=white rest of colors are in between

One more time

Now well try the following numbers
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 16 16 16 16 16 16 16 16 32 32 32 32 32 32 32 32 64 64 64 64 64 64 64 64 128 128 128 128 128 128 128 128

We then color them so 1=black, 128=white rest of colors are in between

Lets compare
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 16 16 16 16 16 16 16 16 32 32 32 32 32 32 32 32 64 64 64 64 64 64 64 64 128 128 128 128 128 128 128 128

From an Image to Its Numbers

We start with clown image It has 200*320 numbers I cant show you all Lets zoom on eye (~40*50)

Image to Numbers (Continued)

Well zoom on middle of eye image (10*10)

The Numbers (Continued)

The middle of eye image (10*10)
80 81 80 80 80 80 77 77 77 77 81 80 80 80 80 80 80 73 77 70 80 81 80 80 80 79 77 70 54 70 80 80 80 80 80 77 70 22 37 22 80 80 80 80 77 66 22 2 1 2 80 80 80 77 77 54 57 2 6 2 77 77 37 66 77 66 51 22 2 6 77 37 11 66 80 77 70 37 8 8 37 11 9 6 2 11 66 54 77 80 66 54 51 70 37 22 2 6 8 6

Note the rule: Bright colors high numbers Dark colors - low numbers

More Relation of Imaging and Math

Averaging numbers m smoothing images Idea of averaging: take an image Replace each point by average with its neighbors
80 81 80 80 80 80 77 77 77 77 81 80 80 80 80 80 80 73 77 70 80 81 80 80 80 79 77 70 54 70 80 80 80 80 80 77 70 22 37 22 80 80 80 80 77 66 22 2 1 2

80 80 80 77 77 54 57 2 6 2

77 77 37 66 77 66 51 22 2 6

77 37 11 66 80 77 70 37 8 8

37 11 9 6 2 11 66 54 77 80 66 54 51 70 37 22 2 6 8 6

For example, 2 has the neighborhood So replace 2 by

70+22+57+22+2+2+37+1+6 1 = 24 9 3

70 22 37

22 2 1

57 2 6

Example: Smoothing by averaging

Original image on top left It is then averaged with neighbors of distances 3, 5, 19, 15, 35, 45

Example: Smoothing by averaging

And removing wrinkles by both.

More Relation of Imaging and Math

Differences of numbers m sharpening images

On left image of moon On right its edges (obtained by differences) We can add the two to get a sharpened version of the first

Moon sharpening (continued)

Real Life Applications

Many From a Minnesota based company

Their main job: maintaining railroads Main concern: Identify cracks in railroads, before too late

How to detect damaged rails?

Traditionally drive along the rail (very long) and inspect Very easy to miss defects (falling asleep) New technology: getting pictures of rails

Millions of images then collected

How to detect Cracks?

Human observation Train a computer Recall that differences detect edges

Work done by Kyle Heuton (high school student at Saint Paul)

Summary
Math is useful (beyond the grocery store) Images are composed of numbers Good math ideas p good image processing