University of Georgia
Mathematics Department Colloquium
Ed Schaefer
Santa Clara University
August 31, 2000
When is an integer the product of two and of three consecutive integers?
Abstract: In this talk we will solve the problem posed
in the title, one first solved by Louis Mordell in the 1960s. More
interesting than the question itself, perhaps, is the method of solution,
which serves to introduce the beautiful subject of elliptic curves. This
is a field of lively current research interest and the gateway to techniques
used in the recent acclaimed proof of Fermat's Last Theorem and to problems
of cryptography.