Articles from:February 2023

  • Department of Mathematics and Statistics Colloquium Talk: Dr. Basil Nanayakkara

    The Department of Mathematics and Statistics invites students, faculty and staff to attend a talk given by Dr. Basil Nanayakkara on Thursday, February 16th, 2023 from 2:30 pm to 3:30 pm in Mackenzie Chown D-block room 303. The talk is entitled Category Theory — Yoneda’s lemma.

    Abstract:

    We will discuss the notions of category theory (representable functors, natural transformations, functor of points, etc.) until such time that we can state Yoneda’s lemma. Then we will state and prove the lemma. In algebraic geometry, the lemma is mostly used in its contravariant form. As such, we will state and prove the contravariant form of the lemma. The lemma can be used to embed the category of schemes over a field k, in the category of functors (k-algebras) to (sets). This embedding may be a stepping stone to solve some of the open problems in algebraic geometry.

  • Tian Zhao Masters Project Presentation Wed Feb 8 at 3:00 PM

    Tian Zhao, a Master of Science candidate in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics, will present his Masters Research Project (MATH 5P99) titled When does the sum of 4 Fibonacci numbers equal a power? on Wednesday, Feb. 8, 2023 at 3 pm in TH149.

    Abstract:

    The aim of this work is the study of Diophantine equations using linear forms in logarithms and algebraic techniques. I was  particularly interested in solving the Diophantine equation of when a sum of 4 Fibonacci numbers equal a power of an integer. I will begin my talk by establishing some preliminary results. I will show how using linear forms in logarithms and techniques from algebraic number theory to solve Fn_1 + Fn_2 + Fn_3 + Fn_4 = 6^a.

  • Katia Benseba Masters Project Presentation Tues Feb 7th at 4:00 PM

    Katia Benseba will present her Math 5P99 Masters Research Project entitled Permutation Polynomials over Finite Fields and their application to Cryptography on Tuesday, February 7th, 2023 at 4:00 PM in MCG 310.

    Abstract:

    The aim of the paper is the study of Permutation Polynomials over finite fields and their application to
    cryptography. In my talk, I will begin by a brief review of finite fields, define permutation polynomials over finite fields and their properties. I will present old results such as Hermite-Dickson’s Theorem as well as some most recent ones. After introducing cryptography, I will give a historical overview, by  explaining some cryptosystems such as RSA and ElGamal. Finally, I will present some cryptographical protocols based on Permutation Polynomials over Finite Fields.