Mathematical Sciences Department Seminar
Keenan Kidwell, WPI
Wednesday, January 29th
11am-12pm
Stratton 201
Title: A problematic introduction to number theory
Abstract: How does one meaningfully, accessibly, and (more or less) honestly describe one's mathematical discipline to students in an introductory class, or even to fellow mathematicians in other fields? Indirectly, of course! We will describe a conception of number theory based on classical examples of problems whose statements are elementary, but whose solutions exemplify the modern mathematical tendency to approach a question by reformulating it in a more sophisticated context so as to gain access to powerful techniques not available in the original setting. Along the way, we will also comment on the extent to which the scope and expansiveness of our notion of number is informed by what is required to answer interesting questions about, well, numbers.