UBC Math Department Colloquium: Bernd Sturmfels

This lecture is an invitation to real algebraic geometry, along with computational aspects, ranging from bitangents and K3 surfaces to eigenvectors and ranks of tensors. We present an experimental study - with many pictures - of smooth curves of degree six in the real plane. The number 64 refers to rigid isotopy types in the Rokhlin-Nikulin classification.