Hello everyone
As part of an afternoon academic conference on logic, for World Logic Day, there are a couple of sessions suitable for a general public / schools audience which might be of interest to fans of computer science, maths and logic (and magic!)
World Logic Day, Tue 14 January 2025
https://sites.google.com/view/wld25/home
If you want to attend in person just for the 'public engagement' bits it's probably worth getting there for 5.30pm to see the last table magic session and then the talk.
• Graduate Centre, QMUL, Peston Lecture Theatre
• Map | What3Words: trip.rivers.shine
• Nearest tube Stepney Green (Mile End pretty close too).
• Best buses: 25 and 205.
Table magic: Conjuring with Logic (2.30-3pm, 4-4.30pm, 5.30-6pm)
Paul Curzon, QMUL
Would you do a magic trick in front of a live audience if you were not sure it always works? Would you release a program before you were sure it was free from bugs so always worked? But in each case how can you be sure? Just like programs, magic tricks are based on algorithms so they can be verified to be correct in similar ways. By demonstrating some simple tricks we will explore how to prove they always work, and in so doing demonstrate how Computer Scientists use logic and proof to verify that critical algorithms, programs and hardware always do the right thing too.
(This is part of the Coffee Break & Demo Stand)
Find out more about Logic for Fun at https://cs4fn.blog/logic-and-deduction/
Public talk: Self-reference and Paradoxes: To Infinity and Back! (6-6.45pm)
Paulo Oliva, QMUL
Ever since the Greeks discovered that self-reference can lead to paradoxes (with the sentence “All Cretans are liars”, proclaimed by a Cretan), the fascination with self-referential objects has occupied the minds of artists, philosophers, mathematicians, logicians and computer scientists. In this lecture we will go through some other surprising examples of self-reference, including in language, arts and computing, and discuss how these can lead to puzzling paradoxes and to amazing inventions — such as computers!
The event is free, in-person and online - though I suspect the table magic parts will be in-person only.
Jo