Home Page of Charles R.B. Wright

This page is deliberately plain vanilla. It started that way when my students only had dial-up access, and I've kept it that way. If you want pictures, click the appropriate links.

I am a member of the Mathematics Department faculty at the University of Oregon, where I have been since 1961. Though officially retired, I can still be seen occasionally on campus.

Please feel free to call me at home (541-485-4399).

My most recent area of mathematical interest is computational group theory, especially algorithms for finite polycyclic groups. I have worked in combinatorial and finite soluble group theory, as well as in nonassociative algebra. For a number of years I chaired the GAP Council , the advisory-editorial board for GAP , a powerful system for computational group theory, including character theory and applications to graphs and codes. Check it out.

I am also a coauthor, with Kenneth A. Ross, of a discrete math textbook, now out in its fifth edition, and would be glad to answer questions about the book. Address complaints to Ross.

If you're interested, you can view pictures of me in the classroom, where I used to spend my time, or at home, where I hang out now. Also here are a couple of pictures of me with my wife, Leslie, and later that evening me conducting the Oregon Mozart Players chamber orchestra on my 65th birthday. I am a tremendous fan of the Mozart Players, and encourage everyone in the Eugene area who likes classical music to come to the OMP concerts.

For over 50 years I played bassoon in the Alder StreetS Quintet, the oldest established permanent floating woodwind quintet in Eugene, having been formed in the late 60's when I lived on Alder Street. I still play in the Uncalled Four bassoon quartet and for many years played principal bassoon in the Riverside Chamber Symphony.

Here are pictures of Leslie and me enjoying ourselves in Norway, the Czech Republic, Chile, Japan, the Kimberley in Australia, Switzerland, Guernsey, Yorkshire, England, the Flinders Ranges in Australia, Costa Rica, Lord Howe Island and Melbourne, Turkey, El Hierro in the Canaries, Turkey for the second time, Vermont, Kangaroo Island and the Yarra Valley, Slovenia, New Zealand, Normandy and Brittany and, most recently, Australia yet again. When we travel, we emphasize hiking, rather than cities.

Here are also some pictures from a 2006 visit to Oregon by our Japanese friends Hiro and Michi Taguchi.

I also make and sell SWINGERs, the modern devices to prevent embarrassing spills. You really ought to click this link!

For those who are interested in optics as well as symmetry, here are a few pictures taken looking into the Math Wizard's 48X Magic Mirror. Click on any picture to enlarge it, and then use Next and Previous to move around. Here's the owner's manual. If you can cut glass, you can make your own with cheap mirrors and duct tape. One user hit upon the bright idea of using plastic mirrors, which act like front-silvered glass mirrors. She cut them with a hot knife designed for cutting plastic and then sealed them together with a glue gun.

Each holiday season since 2001 I've created an assortment of cryptograms, about half with Christmas-y themes. This year's bunch is here. The full collection is here and solutions are here.

Here are the cryptograms created to celebrate the publication of Conifers of the World by James E. Eckenwalder, and here are their solutions.

Here, too, are the Christmas anacrostic puzzles created by my daughter Allyson. The most recent one is here.

I've also tried my hand at fiction. Here's a very short story .


Charles R.B. Wright
2560 Harris Street
Eugene OR 97405-3046, U.S.A.
Email: wright at uoregon.edu

Last significant change: December 20, 2019.