Workshop on

Mathematics and Computation

Friday-Sunday, 19-21 June, 2015
Venue: CARMA, The University of Newcastle


Notices

Programme

The near final programme has been posted below.

Travel funding

Individuals at AMSI Member Institutions are reminded that travel funds are available through AMSI.

Registration reminder

Please register now through Eventbrite if you wish to attend. Registration is free.


This three-day workshop, organized by Jonathan Borwein, is envisioned to include the following sessions:

  1. Computer-assisted discovery (Jon Borwein and Matt Tam)
  2. Formal proof and computer-assisted proof (Jeremy Avigad and Rob Lewis)
  3. Computational group theory (John Cannon, George Willis, Murray Elder)
    including celebration of the 50th anniversary of the discovery of the Janko group
  4. Computational number theory and related topics (Wadim Zudilin and Richard Brent)

External Keynote Speaker Biographies

Jeremy Avigad is a Professor of Philosophy and Mathematical Sciences at Carnegie Mellon University, with research interests in mathematical logic, proof theory, philosophy of mathematics, formal verification, automated reasoning, and the history of mathematics. He received a BA in Mathematics from Harvard College in 1989, and a PhD in Mathematics from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1995. He has held visiting positions at the Microsoft Research - Inria Joint Centre in France and at Microsoft Research Redmond. He has also held fellowships from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the John Templeton Foundation, and his research has been supported by the National Science Foundation and Air Force Office of Scientific Research.

Cristian S. Calude, a member of Academia Europaea, is Chair Professor of Computer Science and Director of the Centre for Discrete Mathematics at the University of Auckland, New Zealand. He had more than 25 visiting appointments including visiting professorships at Cambridge University, Ecole Normale Superieure and Ecole Politechnique in Paris, Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Microsoft Research Trento, Sandia National Laboratories. He works in algorithmic information theory and quantum physics where he published more than 250 articles and 8 books.

John Cannon is perhaps best-known as the originator of Magma, a software package designed for computations in algebra, number theory, algebraic geometry and algebraic combinatorics. It provides a mathematically rigorous environment for defining and working with many algebraic structures, and also supports a number of databases designed to aid computational research in those areas of mathematics which are algebraic in nature.

Don Taylor graduated in 1968 from Monash University with an MSc supervised by Zvonimir Janko. He then travelled to the University of Oxford where he completed a DPhil with Graham Higman. In 1972 Don took up a lectureship at La Trobe University and in 1975 he moved to Sydney where he has been ever since. He has written several books on group theory, the most recent in 2009 (with Gus Lehrer) on complex reflection groups.

Registration

There is no charge for attending the workshop, but please register at Eventbrite if you wish to attend.

Venue

The conference will be held in V104, with refreshments upstairs CARMA room, V205, in the Mathematics Building at the University of Newcastle. A map of the campus is available here, click on "V Mathematics" in the list below the map to highlight its position.

Programme

Talk abstracts are available here, or click on a title to jump straight to its abstract.

Friday 19th

2:00-2:45Jeremy Avigad (Carnegie-Mellon)
"A heuristic prover for real inequalities"
[PDF of talk]
2:45-3:30Rob Lewis (Carnegie-Mellon)
"Dependent types and the algebraic hierarchy"
[PDF of talk]
3:30-4:00Coffee
4:00-5:00Cris Calude (Auckland)
"Proving quantum indeterminism: Measurements of value indefinite observables are unpredictable"
[PDF of talk]
5:00-7:00Reception

Saturday 20th

9:30-10:30John Cannon (Sydney)
"The Classification Theorem for Finite Simple Groups as a Basis for Algorithms for Finite Groups"
10:30-11:00Coffee
11:00-12:00Don Taylor (Sydney)
"Janko's sporadic simple groups: a bit of history"
[PDF of talk]
12:00-1:00Murray Elder (Newcastle)
"Computational problems in infinite groups"
[PDF of talk]
1:00-1:30John Harrison (Newcastle)
"Experimental computations related to the asymptotic behaviour of random walks on certain matrix groups"
[PDF of talk]
1:30-2:30Lunch
2:30-3:30Wadim Zudilin (Newcastle)
"On a family of polynomials related to $\zeta(2,1) = \zeta(3)$"
[PDF of talk]
3:30-4:00Matt Skerritt (Newcastle)
"On the use of GPUs in Mathematical Computation"
[PDF of talk]
4:00-4:30Coffee
4:30-5:30Richard Brent (Newcastle and ANU)
"Asymptotics of some functions arising in number theory and analysis of algorithms via computation and Mellin transforms"
[PDF of talk]
5:30-6:00Attila Egri-Nagy (Western Sydney)
"Extending the computational horizon"
[PDF of talk]
7:00-10:00Workshop Dinner

Sunday 21st

9:30-10:30Pablo Moscato (Newcastle)
"Using Evolution and L-systems for Intelligent Design and other attempts to narrow the gap between Theory and Practice in Computer Science"
[PDF of talk]
10:30-11:00Coffee
11:00-11:30Michael Rose (Newcastle)
"Expectations over Fractal Sets"
[PDF of talk]
11:30-12:00Matt Tam (Newcastle)
"Reconstruction algorithms in blind ptychographic imaging"
[PDF of talk]
12:00-1:00Jon Borwein (Newcastle)
"Short walks in higher dimensions"
[PDF of talk]
1:00-2:00Lunch


Accommodation Suggestions

Transportation

Sydney Airport to Newcastle

For those arriving at Sydney Airport we recommend taking the train most of the way to Newcastle (the train line has recently been truncated and you will need to transfer to a bus or other alternative at Hamilton Station). For information and trip planning, please visit

www.transportnsw.info

You should take the T2 Airport Line from Domestic/International Airport Station to Central Station and then the Central Coast & Newcastle Line Hamilton Station. From Hamilton Station you must transfer to a bus into the city.

Alternatively, there is the Happy Cabby Airport Shuttle Service which you will need to book in advance.

Newcastle Airport to Newcastle

For those arriving at the Newcastle Airport we recommend taking a taxi to Newcastle. The taxi rank is adjacent to the arrivals area of the terminal. Newcastle Taxis can be contacted directly, free-of-charge, on the dedicated taxi phone located in the arrivals end of the terminal.

Alternatively, you can catch the 130 or 131 bus from the Newcastle Airport to the Newcastle Station. From Newcastle Station it is an easy walk to the recommended hotels. For more information and/or to plan your exact trip times see the CityRail website or the Port Stephens Coaches timetables.

Local Transportation in Newcastle

Newcastle Taxis: bookings can be made online or by calling 133 300 within Australia.

For public transport options, please visit www.transportnsw.info.

Contact Information

If you have any questions, please contact

Juliane Turner
Juliane.Turner@newcastle.edu.au
Telephone: (02) 492 15483
Facimile: (02) 492 16898