Brandeis-Harvard-MIT-Northeastern

JOINT MATHEMATICS COLLOQUIUM


Undecidability in number theory

Bjorn Poonen

University of California, Berkeley

Brandeis University

Thursday, September 20, 2007

Talk at 4:30 p.m. in 317 Goldsmith Hall

Tea at 4:00 p.m. in 300 Goldsmith Hall


Abstract: The work of Martin Davis, Hilary Putnam, and Julia Robinson in 1961 completed by Yuri Matijasevic in 1970 proved that there is no general algorithm to decide whether a multivariable polynomial equation with integer coefficients has a solution in integers. It is still not known whether an algorithm exists for the analogous problem for rational numbers. I will describe progress on this and related problems.


Home Web page: Alexandru I. Suciu Posted: September 12, 2007
Comments to: a.suciu@neu.edu URL: http://www.math.neu.edu/bhmn/poonen07.html