Title:  “A Brief (incomplete and arbitrary) Introduction to Integer Partitions”

Time:  FRIDAY,  7:30 PM - 8:30 PM

Abstract: A partition of a positive integer n is a way of writing n as a sum of positive integers without regard to order. For example, the partitions of 3 are 3, 2+1, and 1+1+1. The partition function p(n), which counts the number of partitions of n, has been studied extensively since Euler and has applications in many areas of mathematics and other sciences. We will discuss several classical identities and illustrate the power and beauty of two main tools used to prove such identities: bijections and generating functions. Time permitting, we will also look at the arithmetic properties of p(n) and the number of partitions of n satisfying certain conditions.

Bio:  Cristina completed her Ph.D. in Mathematics at the University of Toronto in 1998. Her advisor was James Arthur, and her thesis was entitled Hypergraphs and Automorphic Forms. After graduation, she had one-year teaching positions at the University of Wyoming and Bowdoin College and a two-year position at Dartmouth College as a J. W. Young Research Instructor. Since 2002, she has been in the Math Department at the College of the Holy Cross and is currently a Distinguished Professor of Science.