Talk page

Title:
Neverending Numbers That Continue to the Sky

Speaker:
Fumiharu Kato

Abstract:
The story begins with a mysterious “number” that is not normally possible, “a number with infinite digits that does not change even if it is squared.” Such “numbers” do exist, but in order to accept them, we have to break down some common sense about “numbers.” However, if we accept it, the vast, free and deep world of mathematics lies beyond. The world of numbers you can find there is not the world of “ordinary” numbers such as real numbers and complex numbers, but the so-called “non-archimedean” world of numbers. The world of such numbers was discovered by German mathematician Kurt Hensel around the year 1900. Since then, this number system called “p-adic numbers” has become an indispensable and important part of modern mathematics. This talk starts with the naive idea of “numbers with infinite digits” and invites you down the natural path to “p-adic numbers”.

Link:
http://scgp.stonybrook.edu/video_portal/video.php?id=5605

Workshop:
Simons- Della Pietra 2022-2023