What is Mathematics? Discussing Mathematical Truth.

Laczkovich, Miklos

Is there such a thing as absolute truth? Are mathematical truths absolute? If yes, what tasks remain in which mathematics can play a part? What exactly do mathematicians do? To what extent is the science of mathematics one of theory creation, and to what extent one of problem solving? This lecture will search for answers to these and related questions. We will hear about the prominent problems bequeathed us by antiquity - such as angle trisection, the duplication of the cube, or the squaring of the circle - and also learn about the individuals who solved these riddles: Carl Friedrich Gauss and Ferdinand Lindemann.
To this day, there are many problems still awaiting an answer, many of which would bring considerable financial reward to the mathematicians who solve them. For instance, the Clay Mathematics Institute has published seven questions that it has named the 'Millennium Prize Problems'. The first person to find a solution to each problem will receive a prize of US$1,000,000! The lecture will also touch upon the Number One unsolved problem in mathematics: the Riemann hypothesis. There will also be a discussion of the possibility that some problems might never be solved. Is there really an answer to every mathematical riddle? If not, what could this mean for us?

About the lecturer