Proof of Concept

Who am I? In terms of daily activities, I'm about half-half number theorist and mom, with a slice of cyclist thrown in. I was born and raised in the beautiful boreal forest of northern Ontario, where my leg hair froze to my pants and math was my worst subject until someone pointed out to me that puzzles are actually math. In high school, I attended PROMYS, a life-changing number theory summer camp, where we spent long nights skipping curfew and wandering Boston discussing metaphysics. I was an undergraduate at the University of Waterloo, where it was a bit warmer and I could major in the Pure Mathematics Department inside a whole Faculty of Mathematics, and -- yes -- we sometimes played drinking games that involved stating the Fundamental Theorem of Galois Theory or taking a shot. I couldn't get enough of number theory, so I got my PhD (and a silver medal at collegiate cycling nationals, to comfort me as I age) while at Brown University and I'm now a professor at the University of Colorado Boulder. I love anything about integers and algebraic integers (especially imaginary quadratic ones!), math visualizations and the geometry of number theory, algorithms, cryptography, quadratic forms, computing machines, continued fractions, Apollonian circle packings, elliptic curves, factoring, the On-Line Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences, biking up Flagstaff Mountain, and especially my family. When I have a few free moments, I sometimes make a YouTube video. I was originally motivated by my teaching here at CU, but as your comments and likes have floated in, I'm finding it is its own reward. Thanks for your support. math.katestange.net/

3 years ago (edited) | [YT] | 116