What is...? Seminar - Vilas Winstein

Title: What is the Recursion Theorem?

Speaker: Vilas Winstein (Ohio State University)

Abstract: How many algorithms are there? What kind of structure does a set of algorithms have? What exactly is an algorithm? In this presentation we will begin to answer these questions and more. The Recursion Theorem is a particularly interesting result pertaining to the structure of a list of recursive functions (algorithms) in the study of Recursion Theory, the branch of mathematical logic which is the predecessor to modern computer science.We will give a proof of the recursion theorem based on the idea of the Turing Machine, and some necessary facts about Turing Machines will be discussed.

Seminar URL: https://math.osu.edu/whatis