A Mathematician's View of Proof - Sarah Hart

An episode of the Gresham College Lectures podcast, hosted by Gresham College, titled "A Mathematician's View of Proof - Sarah Hart" was published on July 12, 2024 and runs 51 minutes.

July 12, 2024 ·51m · Gresham College Lectures

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Summary

The idea of proof is fundamental to mathematics. We could argue that science consists of testable theories, and therefore that it is about what can be disproved, not what can be proved. In law, the test is “beyond reasonable doubt”. Famous conjectures in mathematics have been tested by computers for trillions of numbers – but we still call them conjectures. In this lecture we’ll talk about what mathematicians mean by proof, and I’ll show you some of my favourites. This lecture was recorded b...

Episode Description

The idea of proof is fundamental to mathematics. We could argue that science consists of testable theories, and therefore that it is about what can be disproved, not what can be proved. In law, the test is “beyond reasonable doubt”.

Famous conjectures in mathematics have been tested by computers for trillions of numbers – but we still call them conjectures.

In this lecture we’ll talk about what mathematicians mean by proof, and I’ll show you some of my favourites.

This lecture was recorded by Sarah Hart on 4th June 2024 at Barnard's Inn Hall, London

The transcript of the lecture is available from the Gresham College website:
https://www.gresham.ac.uk/watch-now/mathematician-proof

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