Math Talk: The Distribution of Prime Numbers

Ursinus Professor of Mathematics Kevin McGown will speak about the distribution of prime numbers. At its heart, number theory is the study of the natural numbers 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,... Among these are the prime numbers 2,3,5,7,11,13,... which are the essential building blocks of the natural numbers. One would like to know -- how are the primes distributed among the naturals? We will discuss classical proofs, as well as heuristics and open problems related to this question. Free pizza and soda!