Seminar at SMU Delhi

January 23, 2013 (Wednesday) , 3:30 PM at Webinar
Speaker: Krishnan Rajkumar, IMSc, Chennai
Title: Irrationality of Zeta values - Ap\'ery and Ramanujan
Abstract of Talk
Irrationality of Zeta values - Ap\'ery and Ramanujan Abstract: We shall first discuss various irrationality criteria. We shall then review the results on special values of the Riemann zeta function. In particular, we shall study the "miraculous" proof of the irrationality of $\zeta(3)$ due to Ap\'ery. Finally, we will describe an approach to this problem which simplifies Ap\'ery's proof as well as demonstrates the relation of this proof with a continued fraction due to Ramanujan.