Drake Wilson

Drake Wilson

Western Washington University
, BH 419

Abstract

Topology of p-adic Numbers

As mathematicians, we are familiar with a wide array of numbersystems: integers, rationals numbers, real numbers, etc.,  but is that all there is? It turns out that there is another, much stranger number system known as the p-adic numbers. The p-adics arise as in a similar fashion to the real numbers, but act in a completely unique way. When working with something so unfamiliar, it would be helpful to have a picture of what the p-adic's look like, that is a topological model in Euclidean space to help visualize them. This talk will introduce p-adic numbers, explore some topological and algebraic curiosities, and give Euclidean models which are homeomorphic to p-adics.

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