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New Zealand Mathematics Colloquium 1999
July 6-9, 1999
Department of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Canterbury
Christchurch, New Zealand

Organizers
Doris Barnard, Therese Boustead, Chris Price, Bruce Robson, Gunter Steinke, Graeme Wake, Allan Willms

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From Pascal to Shor: The Era of Communication and Computing
by
David G Glynn
Te Whare Wananga o Waitaha

One of the signs of the 17th century was the startling breakthrough of the mathematical treatment of phenonema. Blaise Pascal was at the forefront of these achievements. We offer a comparison of his work with the information age, where computers and communication are on the increase, and where quantum mechanics is making waves. Whereas Pascal developed one of the first mechanical computers, and made giant inroads into the theory of probability, quantum computers rely on inherent uncertainties in nature, altering our notions about computability and communication.

http://web.math.canterbury.ac.nz/~mathdgg/

Date received: June 14, 1999

Copyright © 1999 by the author(s). The author(s) of this document and the organizers of the conference have granted their consent to include this abstract in Atlas Conferences Inc. Document # cacc-47.