Speaker: Gopal Srinivasan, IIT Bombay, India
Title: The gamma function - an eclectic tour

Abstract: The ubiquitous gamma function was introduced in analysis by Leonard Euler in a letter to Goldbach nearly 300 years ago. Since its inception it has attracted the attention of almost every eminent mathematician of the eighteenth and nineteenth century and continues to interest the mathematicians of the present generation. The talk will be expository in which some important historical sign posts of the nineteenth century will be discussed. We shall touch upon several diverse approaches to the study of this special function with a sampling of a few proofs (off the beaten track) of some known results and also a discussion of certain less known identities. The talk would conclude with some recent results.

Time: Friday, November 2, 2018, 1:30-2:30pm

Place: Exploratory Hall, Room 4106

Department of Mathematical Sciences
George Mason University
4400 University Drive, MS 3F2
Fairfax, VA 22030-4444
http://math.gmu.edu/
Tel. 703-993-1460, Fax. 703-993-1491