Alex Kontorovich is a Distinguished Professor of Mathematics at Rutgers University with lots of experience in teaching and outreach. In our talk, we will touch on diverse topics, including:

- why care about math (and its history)

- what can outsiders bring to the table

- how useful it is to be the dumbest in the room

- where music meets math and where it doesn't

Startovač: https://www.startovac.cz/patron/misto-problemu/

FB stránka: https://www.facebook.com/mistoproblemu

Web: https://www.mistoproblemu.cz/

Timestamps:

(0:00) introduction

(00:46) problems, proofs, and thinking styles

(13:16) outreach, motivation, and explaining concepts

(28:06) interdisciplinarity and outsiders

(33:30) people teaching computers and vice versa

(39:52) stamina, humility, music, and gratitude

Links:

- MoMath: https://momath.org/

- Natural Number Game: https://adam.math.hhu.de/#/g/leanprover-community/nng4

- Lean in the browser: https://live.lean-lang.org/

- Prime Number Theorem project: https://github.com/AlexKontorovich/PrimeNumberTheoremAnd

- other Lean projects: https://leanprover-community.github.io/lean_projects.html

- polymath projects: https://polymathprojects.org/

- Alex's website: https://sites.math.rutgers.edu/~alexk/

In this condensed episode, Julián Hernández-Serrano employs his diverse backgrounds and personal experience to share with us:

- how can good narratives help us solve problems

- what can hurricanes teach us

- why should we be careful when coding

- when to ground ourselves in the center

Startovač: https://www.startovac.cz/patron/misto-problemu/

FB stránka: https://www.facebook.com/mistoproblemu

Web: https://www.mistoproblemu.cz/

Timestamps:

(0:00) introduction

(2:28) capitalizing on different backgrounds

(7:57) Puerto Rican environment and survivalist mindset

(13:32) using storytelling for problem solving

(22:30) a favorite story

(26:42) systematizing experiments on narratives

(33:55) the impact of the internet

(36:44) the importance of staying in the center

Links:

- Roger Schank: https://www.rogerschank.com/What-We-Learn-When-We-Learn-by-Doing, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c5Ah3Om-sFY

- Stories in problem solving: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/226534846_Case-based_reasoning_and_instructional_design_Using_stories_to_support_problem_solving, https://www.researchgate.net/publication/227714410_The_effects_of_case_libraries_on_problem_solving

- Julián's mail: julian.hernandez@upr.edu

André Hernández-Espiet formalizes Euclid's Elements in the proof assistant Lean. He will offer some thoughts on:

- what principles are essential when coding up geometry in a rigorous way

- why is graduate school a scam

- which skills and approaches are useful both in academia and the industry

- how can early access to education influence your life

Startovač: https://www.startovac.cz/patron/misto-problemu/

FB page: https://www.facebook.com/mistoproblemu

Web: https://www.mistoproblemu.cz/

Timestamps:

(0:00) introduction

(3:49) Lean and getting into it

(7:20) axiomatic systems and different geometries

(19:33) practical aspects and benefits of using Lean

(34:56) Lean communities and communication across fields

(47:23) decoupling of math from its applications

(55:38) thoughts on grad school and transitioning to the industry

(1:05:51) networking and nepotism

(1:17:46) impact of math on personal life

(1:29:18) growing up in Puerto Rico

Links:

- André's formalization of the first book of Euclid's Elements: https://github.com/ah1112/synthetic_euclid_4

- Lean blog post series: https://www.vladasedlacek.cz/en/posts/lean-01-intro

- Spherical triangles: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spherical_trigonometry

- The Erdős Institute: https://www.erdosinstitute.org/

- Blog of Alice Silverberg: https://numberlandadventures.blogspot.com/

- 3Blue1Brown: https://www.3blue1brown.com/

- Numberphile: https://www.numberphile.com/

- Project Euler: https://projecteuler.net/

- Cryptohack: https://cryptohack.org/

- Better explained: https://betterexplained.com/

- Brilliant: https://brilliant.org/

- Khan Academy: https://www.khanacademy.org/