Ursula Martin will give a talk, in person and online, for the Coffee House Tech Talk Series. Details of the talk as below, lunch will be provided.

Title: The Social Machine of Mathematics, and what it means for AI-assisted proof.

Speaker: Ursula Martin

When: 11am Tue 14 Nov

Where: 4th floor Bayes Centre

External link: https://meeting.huaweicloud.com/welink/webrtc/?lang=en-US#/j/97508425

Passcode: 639303

Abstract:

How does mathematics come about? In this talk I’ll look at what philosophers, social scientists  and historians can tell us about what we are doing when we do mathematics, including recent work on explanation in mathematics, and on how mathematics has impact. I’ll also highlight new approaches to collaborative mathematics,  computer supported formal proof, and AI-assisted proof, which challenge our understanding of what a proof might be.

Bio:

Professor Ursula Martin CBE FREng FRSE is Professor Emerita of Computer Science at the University of Edinburgh, and an Emeritus Fellow of Wadham College Oxford. She has worked in combinatorics, group theory, and the application of logical methods in computer science, particularly computer proof, and now investigates the culture and context of mathematics, and its impact on the practice of mathematics. She is the author of a popular book on the mathematics of Ada Lovelace.