How could there be something we don’t know about arithmetic? It would seem that subject was sewn up in third grade. But here’s a problem we don’t know the solution to: What is the most efficient method for multiplication? And here is another: How many numbers appear in a large multiplication table?

On Monday April 7th at 8:00pm ins Searles 315 Professor Carl Pomerance gives a lecture on these and many more topics as well as some recent progress made in these areas.

Carl Pomerance received his B.A. from Brown University in 1966 and his Ph.D. from Harvard University in 1972 under the direction of John Tate. Currently he is the John G. Kemeny Parents Professor of Mathematics at Dartmouth College, after previous positions at the University of Georgia and Bell Labs. A number theorist, Pomerance specializes in analytic, combinatorial, and computational number theory, with applications in the field of cryptology. He considers the late Paul Erdos as his greatest influence.