Prof. Fairouz Kamareddine, Heriot-Watt University, UK

Professor of Theoretical Computer Science in Heriot-Watt University in Scotland. Fairouz Kamareddine has been involved in a number of worldwide consultancy assignments, especially on education and research issues working for United Nations and the EU. Her research interest includes Interface of Mathematics, Logic and Computer Science. She has held numerous invited positions at universities worldwide. She has well over 200 published articles and a number of books. She has played leading roles in the development, administration, and implementation of interdisciplinary, international, and academic collaborations and networks.

Speech Title: The paradoxes and the infinite dazzled ancient mathematics and continue to do so today

Abstract:This talk looks at how ancient mathematicians (and especially the Pythagorean school) were faced by problems/paradoxes associated with the infinite which led them to juggle two systems of numbers: the discrete whole/rationals which were handled arithmetically and the continuous magnitude quantities which were handled geometrically. We look at how approximations and mixed numbers (whole numbers with fractions) helped develop the arithmetization of geoemtry and the development of mathematical analysis and real numbers.