Too acute to be true? (series unlisted)

Abstract: In the late 1940s, Paul Erdos asked the following innocent-looking question: How many points can one place in R^n such that all angles formed by any three are acute? This question was only (mostly) settled in the last few years, and the path to its resolution is marked with a number of beautiful arguments and surprising twists. I will retell this story, highlighting some of the most interesting parts. As a bonus, I will be giving cute facts, some real, some made-up, and the audience will be able to vote on whether the fact is too cute to be true.

Mathematics

Audience: general audience

Pizza Seminar