))
Vicky Neale on 'Why Study Mathematics?' and the Twin Prime Conjecture | Episode 11
Manage episode 394805550 series 3549261
Content provided by Tedy Nenu. All podcast content including episodes, graphics, and podcast descriptions are uploaded and provided directly by Tedy Nenu or their podcast platform partner. If you believe someone is using your copyrighted work without your permission, you can follow the process outlined here https://ro.player.fm/legal.
Dr Vicky Neale is the Whitehead Lecturer at the Mathematical Institute and Balliol College at the University of Oxford. She is also a Supernumerary Fellow at Balliol and the author of two great books aimed at general audiences, namely ‘Closing the Gap’ and ‘Why Study Mathematics?’.
Vicky Neale is a great communicator of Mathematics. She was given an MPLS Teaching Award in 2016 and she also won an award for being the Most Acclaimed Lecturer in MPLS in the student-led Oxford University Student Union Teaching Awards 2015.
Follow her on Twitter: @VickyMaths1729
For some clear proofs of a selection of mathematical theorems, check out her YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBGhXXBCAzbzQV65JZoGhjw and her blog https://theoremoftheweek.wordpress.com/
Conversation Outline:
00:00 Guest Introduction
01:05 Vicky’s mathematical background
04:13 Motivations for writing a book on reasons to study mathematics
07:11 Are good reasons for studying Mathematics timeless? Would this book have more or less the same contents, had it been written many years ago?
10:10 Is the job of pure mathematicians safe from AI developments?
12:13 What are the benefits (for the non-mathematician) of knowing about mathematical notions such as integrals, derivatives, matrices and so on?
15:39 Are some people more mathematically talented than others?
18:45 Does the discussion of talent change when we are talking about research-level Mathematics? Douglas Hofstadter’s experience.
22:45 Aesthetics of Mathematics
25:00 Is Number Theory more beautiful than other mathematical subfields?
25:52 A mathematician’s view of the metaphysics of numbers
27:58 Fermat’s Last Theorem, Andrew Wiles and finding meaning in Mathematics
29:26 FLT and the Twin Prime Conjecture
32:27 Should graduate students tackle famous open problems?
33:41 Closing the Gap: significant progress towards solving the Twin Prime Conjecture
35:10 Polymath: an example of collaborative Mathematics
39:40 Do we have reasons to believe that the Twin Prime Conjecture is actually true?
Enjoy!
Apple Podcasts:
https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/philosophical-trials/id1513707135
Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/show/3Sz88leU8tmeKe3MAZ9i10
Google Podcasts:
https://podcasts.google.com/?q=philosophical%20trials
Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/tedynenu/
15 episoade
Distribuie
