VIGRE seminar, spring 2000: Elliptic Curves

Instructor

Peter Stiller

Students enrolled

Merrick Brown, Kendra Quesenberry (undergraduate mathematics students); Robert Eby, Sachindranath Jayaraman, Robert Main, Amie Moch, Darren Rhea, Paul Schumacher, Sarah Stovall (graduate mathematics students)

Description

Elliptic curves is a topic easily accessible to undergraduates with only a minimal background in abstract algebra. At the same time, the subject is at the heart of some of today's most advanced mathematics, including the proof of Fermat's Last theorem. In a completely different direction, elliptic curves play an important role in cryptography and information security. This seminar investigated these topics and made use of the material collected from the Institute for Advanced Study's Park City conference (Summer 1999) which brought together students, high school teachers, and researchers on activities related to this seminar.