Celebrating Math

On 01 July 2022, MATH+ took the opportunity to celebrate math by offering two events: one in the morning for the general public on the Millennium Prize Problem “P versus NP” and one in the afternoon for mathematicians, the BMS graduates, and the MATH+ community to honor the BMS alumni of the previous years.

In the morning, we invited high school students, journalists, mathematicians, and the general public to the FUTURIUM in Berlin to celebrate math in honor of the 20^th anniversary of the mathematical Millennium Prize Problems announcement. As part of the Germany-wide event series The 7 Greatest Mathematical Adventures, we presented a diverse program of talks and activities around the famous Millennium Prize Problem “P versus NP.

The P versus NP Problem

At the center of the P vs. NP problem are efficient algorithms, i.e., the question of how quickly computers can solve certain problems. The complexity class P includes all those problems that can be solved efficiently. An example is the calculation of the shortest path, which our smartphone does in a fraction of a second. The NP class also includes all problems for which the validity of a given solution can be checked efficiently. This includes, for example, the traveling salesperson problem, in which the shortest round trip through several places is searched for, for which no efficient algorithm is known so far. The P vs. NP problem asks about the existence or non-existence of such an algorithm, which is equivalent to the question of whether P=NP or P≠NP applies.

Watch the short movie with talks about the “P versus NP” problem that we produced as an introduction to the topic and the event:

Presented Program (Morning Session: Futurium)

9–13 @ Futurium

For high school students, journalists, and the general public at the Futurium. The talks and discussion panels were held in German.

09:00–09:30 Lecture: Worum geht es bei dem Problem P vs. NP? | Martin Skutella (MATH+, TU Berlin), Sarah Morell (BMS, TU Berlin)

09:30–10:30 Lecture: Die Eine-Million-Dollar-Frage: Ist P=NP? | Kurt Mehlhorn (MPII Saarbrücken)

10:50–11:30 Journalist Session: Mathematik – Algorithmen – Wahrheit | Moderation: Anna Maria Hartkopf (MIP.labor)

11:30–13:00 Decision Theatre: Nachhaltige Mobilität | Sarah Wolf (MATH+, FU Berlin)

The program was accompanied by a small exhibition, where the participants could experience art made by artificial intelligence (AI) and get signed copies of the mathematical comic “Ida und der Mathe-Agent oder Eine Geschichte vom Modellieren der Mobilität von Morgen”.

Get an impression of the presentations, the audience, and the vibrant activities that accompanied the event on 01 July 2022 at the amazing location Futurium in the short movie:

Presented Program (Afternoon Session: BBAW)

13–20 @ Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften (BBAW)

In the afternoon, we especially invited the MATH+ community, our mathematical colleagues, and science journalists to attend the invited expert talk by Irit Dinur regarding a special topic of the “P versus NP” problem. That was preceded by the “What is …?” seminar organized by students of the Berlin Mathematical School (BMS).

13:00–13:45 PhD Seminar: What is… a probabilistically checkable proof? | M. Levent Doğan (BMS, TU Berlin)

14:15–15:30 MATH+ Friday Colloquium: P, NP and Probabilistically Checkable Proofs | Irit Dinur (The Weizmann Institute of Science)

Please watch the recordings of the “What is…?” Seminar with a talk by M. Levent Doğan, followed by the MATH+ Friday Colloquium with the invited lecture given by Irit Dinur about “P, NP, and Probabilistically Checkable Proofs“.

Afterwards, we honored our recent BMS graduates and the MATH+ Dissertation Prize winners of the last two years with a festive certificate ceremony.

16:00–18:00 BMS Certificate Ceremony & MATH+ Dissertation Awards

18:00–20:00 Reception

The evening closed with a festive reception, numerous photo shootings, plenty of laughter and exciting talks.