Contact information
Name:
C. Jayne Trent
Email:
trentj@lafayette.edu
Abstract: Did you know that 22/7 and 355/113 approximate the number pi astonishingly well? (If you have a calculator with you, try them now!) In this talk, we introduce some basic notions of "Diophantine approximation", a branch of number theory where one is concerned with approximability of irrational numbers by rationals. We will review some old and new results in Diophantine approximation. Contributions made by undergraduate students will be highlighted.