Next talk: How playing a game gives you the largest collection of numbers (Hackenbush) Date: Thursday, 26 March 2026, 2:00 - 3:00 pm. Room: 278 Speaker: Aldayr de Jesús Silva Contreras Abstract: John H. Conway was one of the most free-spirited mathematicians of all time. A testament to this can be seen throughout his works and through some funny anecdotes about him told by his peers and students. In particular, this can be felt by going through his collection of books titled Winning Ways for your mathematical plays. In this one board seminar, I will discuss one particular game described in the first volume of this collection of books and how this led him to the discovery of the largest collection of numbers, and I [...]

Next talk: Frieze Patterns Date: Thursday, 19 March 2026, 2:00 - 3:00 pm. Room: 478 Speaker: Deepanshu Prasad Abstract: Frieze patterns, introduced by H. S. M. Coxeter and John Conway, are arrays of numbers satisfying a simple local determinant rule. Despite their elementary definition, they have deep connections with combinatorics, cluster algebras, and representation theory. In this talk, I will briefly review classical frieze patterns and then discuss infinite friezes. I will describe their basic properties and illustrate how they arise naturally in combinatorial and representation-theoretic settings. Organizers: Christelle Kozaily Higinio Serrano Garcia For more information: https://sites.google.com/view/one-board-seminar-sofia/inicio,  oneseminarinsofia@gmail.com This seminar is organized for early-career researchers from IMI, ICMS and the faculty. This would be a great opportunity for young researchers to meet and exchange ideas in an [...]