The Undergraduate Math Seminar is restarting for the spring semester! We have a great schedule of talks planned, starting this week with Nico Aiello, who will speak on “An Introduction to Secret Keeping and RSA Encryption” (the abstract appears below)
We will meet in LGRT 1634 at 5:30. As always, pizza and soda will be provided.
Abstract: If you’ve got secrets, come learn how to protect them. Be
it trying to ensure the security of a nation, avoid identity theft, or
just keep a diary private, the need for secret keeping is a huge
concern in today’s world. After covering some background material on
modular arithmetic and the Euler phi-function, we will learn the
mathematics behind the RSA encryption method. The talk will be very
interactive – everyone will have a chance to encrypt a word or phrase
(or secret) of their own – and accessible to all. To help with some of
the computation it would be helpful for those who attend to have a
computer or graphing calculator, though it is not necessary.