Speaker:Dr James Cranch (University of Leicester
Venue: Old Combination Room, Trinity College
Time: 07/02/2011 20:30, drinks from 20:15

For decades, mathematicians have motivated much work by referring to several deeply interesting algebraic objects which sadly fail to exist under the normal definitions. I will exhibit several of these, including the field with one element and the localisation of the integers at the infinite prime, and discuss what they might really mean. Not much familiarity is required with any algebraic objects which really do exist.