Last Day of Class

The morning began with our last class of Number Theory. Despite this depressing fact, we were all pretty excited to prove one example of Fermat's Last Theorem. This link explains the proposition that Fermat claimed to have proven: Fermat's Last Theorem. Most likely, Fermat did not actually prove it since the full proof came about 350 years later by Andrew Wiles. Today we proved only one case of the theorem. The proof ended up using so many variables that we nearly ran out of letters of the alphabet to cover them all.

After class, we went our separate ways for lunch but had to meet near the Astoria stop for the day's next activity: a movie! We watched the film, N is a Number: A Portrait of Paul Erdős, which is a documentary covering the professional life of the famous Hungarian mathematician, Paul Erdős. Not only was Erdős absolutely brilliant, being able to do large scale computations in his head, but we learned he was quite the funny guy too. I found it interesting that since Erdős collaborated with so many people on numerous mathematical papers they made a numbering system out of it. It goes something like this. If you have written a paper with Erdős then you have an Erdős number of 1. If you have written a paper with someone who has written a paper with Erdős then you have an Erdős number of 2. Most published mathematicians have an Erdős number of at least 3. Obviously he was quite prolific. 

After the movie, Professor Hanson guided us to the train station that took us to Szentendre. This small town is well known for its artists and museums. As a class we explored the museum of Margit Kovacs, a Hungarian ceramist.  There were a few wheel-thrown pieces on display but mostly we saw her incredible sculptures. There were many scenes from the bible but the ones I enjoyed most were the everyday images such as two brothers embracing or a large family at dinner. After the museum, we were free to explore the town. Some of us wandered to the Danube River that runs adjacent to the town and skipped some rocks from the bank. We also found some good places to eat dinner and buy artsy stuff to bring home. 

Back at the Professor's Guest House we finished up our last homework assignment and began studying for our final.  

 Szia,
Michael Jordan

Displayed here is 3000 year old artifact
 discovered in a block of ice on the the
 third moon of Jupiter

This spot in Szentendre is known for a
 phenomenon that occurs here called
 hybrid symmetry. If you look at the
 picture upside you will see the
 reflection of Budapest in the water.

This is a cup of coffee