The\nDepartment of Mathematics, Faculty of\nScience and Technology, University of Macau (UM), on 17 April held the\nfifth undergraduate lecture in mathematics, which was also the last lecture of UM\u2019s Undergraduate Lecture Series in Mathematics for\nthis academic year. Prof. King-Fai Lai, chair professor at National Sun Yat-Sen\nUniversity, was the speaker. The title of his lecture was \u201cthe symmetry of functions:\nfrom trigonometric functions to Fermat\u2019s Last Theorem\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Prof. Lai opened his\nlecture with the introduction of indefinite equations and a brief review of\nFermat\u2019s Last Theorem, after\nwhich he\ndiscussed the trigonometric functions. He emphasised that the trigonometric\nfunctions being essentially the only elementary periodic functions is not a\ntrivial fact. He proceeded to introduce elliptic functions as generalisations\nof trigonometric functions. He pointed out that the proof of Andrew Wiles, a British mathematician, is based on the fact\nthat the Fermat\u2019s Last Theorem can be implied by the Taniyama-Shimura theorem\nwhich concerns elliptic curves and modular forms. Prof. Lai concluded that the\nproof of Fermat\u2019s Last Theorem is a masterpiece of mathematics. He noted that the\nproof linked together several different topics which at first glance do not\nseem to have any relations with each other. He encouraged students to try to\nappreciate this masterpiece which reflects the beauty of mathematics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Prof. King-Fai Lai\nobtained his PhD degree from Yale University in 1974. He was supervised by the eminent mathematician Prof. Robert Phelan\nLanglands. Prof. Lai\u2019s research focuses on the Automorphic Forms. He is Siwan Chair Professor at\nNational Sun Yat-sen University, and a scientist at the National Center for\nTheoretical Science Center.<\/p>\n\n\n\nA new Undergraduate\nLecture Series in Mathematics will be launched in the next academic year. Stay\ntuned.
The Department of Mathematics, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Macau (UM), on 17 April held the fifth undergraduate lecture in mathematics, which was also the last lecture of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":113996,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[61],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-149303","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-campus-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n