3pm - 4pm
Wednesday 24 February 2021
Solving the unsolvable
A seminar in the Amazing Maths Seminar Series designed to give undergraduate mathematics students a flavour of mathematics research beyond the core curriculum.
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Abstract
When you first learnt the “quadratic formula”, you may have wondered if there were similar algorithmic methods for solving higher-degree polynomial equations. This question was investigated over many centuries, leading from geometric origins to the development of modern abstract algebra. In this seminar we shall find exact solutions to some cubic equations and see why you might not want to memorise a “cubic formula”. We shall also see how the interplay between algebra and geometry is used to prove the impossibility of certain constructions, such as trisecting an angle.
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