So said G. H. Hardy in A Mathematician's Apology. For years we have
bemoaned the fact that fewer and fewer students choose to study
mathematics, that we seem always to be hearing negative comments about
mathematics. But is this a true picture? Might there perhaps be more
interest and fascination with mathematics than we have allowed
ourselves to see; to acknowledge?
In this presentation we will look both at the positive and negative
representations of mathematics, and see if we can't find evidence that
the general fascination is indeed there. And along the way we'll look
at some classical recreational problems in mathematics that require
sophisticated mathematics to solve-and some that have not yet been
solved.
