UAlberta-PIMS Mathematics and Statistics Colloquium: Colm Mulcahy

Are there really primitive tribes whose system of counting goes: “One, Two, Many,...” indicating that from three on it’s a blur? It’s surprising how little progress we’ve made in addressing some basic problems in 3D or beyond, or when solving seemingly simple equations in ≥ 3 variables. We’ll survey ten fun topics in shapes and numbers and patterns whose basics and generalisations can be explored with little mathematical background, and which speedily lead to “what if?” questions ranging from easy to tricky to “we just don’t know.” Cakes, doughnuts, coins, boxes, cubes, primes, squares, and sums involving powers will all make appearances. Occasionally, we will stray into deeper waters and touch on more sophisticated topics.