Pi Week Special: Math Talk Friday with Professor Haessig

Professor Haessig will be giving a special pi-themed talk for Pi Week!

Title: The transcendence of Pi

Abstract: The constant Pi is used extensively throughout mathematics, even in contexts seemingly far removed from geometry where Pi first began. After discussing a few curious places where Pi pops up we will turn our attention to the notion of a transcendental number.

Most numbers are transcendental, with Pi and e being two examples. However, transcendental numbers are not very well understood. For instance, it is unknown whether Pi * e or Pi + e are transcendental. We will finish the talk with a sketch proof of the Lindemann-Weierstrass theorem, which consequently easily proves the transcendence of Pi (and e).

(Note: the talk is accessible to anyone. Our sketch proof of the Lindemann-Weierstrass theorem will only use the Taylor expansion of e^x.)

Society of Undergraduate Mathematics Students | Website | View More Events