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Rademacher Lectures

Monday, November 6, 2017 - 3:30pm

Bjorn Poonen

MIT

Location

University of Pennsylvania

A6 DRL

Tea will be served at 3:00pm in 4E17 DRL.

Hilbert's tenth problem asked for an algorithm that, given a multivariable polynomial equation with integer coefficients, would decide whether there exists a solution in integers.  Around 1970, Matiyasevich, building on earlier work of Davis, Putnam, and Robinson, showed that no such algorithm exists.  But the answer to the analogous question with integers replaced by rational numbers is still unknown, and there is not even agreement among experts as to what the answer should be.

 

Also, more details on these topics are contained in the following survey articles written by Bjorn Poonen:

http://math.mit.edu/~poonen/papers/h10_notices.pdf
http://math.mit.edu/~poonen/papers/sampler.pdf

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