"Ramanujan’s
Lost Notebook: History and Survey"
By
(University of Illinois at Urbana)
Abstract:
In the spring of 1976,
while searching through papers of the late G. N. Watson at Trinity College,
Cambridge, George Andrews found a sheaf of 138 pages in the handwriting of Srinivasa Ramanujan, generally
regarded as India's greatest mathematician. In view of the fame of Ramanujan's earlier notebooks,
Andrews naturally called these papers Ramanujan's
"lost notebook." This work, comprising about 650 results with no
proofs, arises from the last year of Ramanujan's life
and represents some of his deepest work.
First, we provide a history of the lost notebook. Second, a general
description of the topics found in the lost notebook will be provided.
For some of the topics, in particular, q-series, theta functions, mock theta
functions, continued fractions, partitions, and infinite series, we offer some
details. In the time remaining, the third portion of the lecture will be
devoted to a more detailed discussion of one of the topics prominently addressed
in the lost notebook, namely continued fractions. The talk will be expository,
hopefully understandable to a wide audience
Date: Monday, August 4, 2014
Time: 15.40 – 16:30
Place: Mathematics Seminar Room, SA-141
Tea and cookies will be served after the
seminar.