An Introduction to the Bernoulli Numbers, from Pythagoras to Present

OPEN NEIGHBORHOOD

Speaker:

Ellen Eischen - U Oregon

Consider these basic questions: What can we say about finite sums of powers of consecutive whole numbers? What can we say about whole number solutions to polynomial equations? What about factorizations into primes? What about values of the Riemann zeta function? In interesting families of examples — elementary and sophisticated, ancient and modern — "Bernoulli numbers" unify these seemingly unrelated questions. After an introduction to the Bernoulli numbers, we will explore related developments for these intertwined problems, which lead to central challenges in number theory and beyond.