Regular Events Schedule
On Wednesday (29th), we will be running Maths Café in the Undergraduate Workroom (A0.05), from 13:00 to 15:00. As usual, we will be bringing (a small amount of) food for you to enjoy.
If you have any questions about academics, module options, or any general queries about the university, our academic support officers (and many other attendees) will be happy to help.
On Thursday (30th), we have our regularly scheduled WMS Talk, titled On sums and products, and points and lines., with guest speaker Dr Akshat Mudgal, in MS.04, from 18:00 to 19:00, with free pizza afterwards.
Abstract:
A famous question of Erdős and Szemerédi asks the following: suppose one has a set A of N integers. Define A+A = { a + b : a,b in A} and AA = { ab : a, b in A}. Then is it true that either A+A or AA has size at least N^{2 - o(1)}. This is known as the sum-product conjecture and has very nice connections to questions in number theory, analysis and combinatorial geometry. While it remains wide open, we have had many partial results towards this. One such result (due to Elekes) states that at least one of A+A or AA has size at least cN^{5/4}. Elekes proved this using a beautiful connection between the sum-product problem and results concerning incidences between arbitrary sets of points and lines in the plane.
In this talk, I will give a brief summary of both these two topics as well as highlight the many connections between them.
Also on Thursday (30th), we are running Coffee and Cake, our weekly welfare event, from 11:00 to 12:00, in MB0.08. Drop in to get a hot drink and some food, and relax with others in an informal and friendly environment.