Seminar

Bruce Peterson
Professor, Mathematics

"THE MOST INTERESTING THEOREM YOU NEVER SAW"

In 1639, Gerard Desargues discovered a beautiful truth about the familiar Euclidean plane.  Strangely, however, Desargues' Theorem, although a true statement about the plane is not a theorem of plane geometry.  How can this be?  We will prove the theorem, explain the apparent contradiction and discuss what it means for a theorem to be part of a mathematical system.  No background other than high school mathematics is required.

Tuesday, September 28, 2004
Warner 202
3:15 p.m.

Refreshments at 3:00 p.m.

All are welcome to attend!