Max Lieblich

A world where 2=0 (or 3=0 or 5=0 ...)

We will investigate number systems in which p=0 for some prime number p. How many such systems are there? How many things from our world also live there? Can you make the "complex numbers" by including a square root of -1? Are there "quaternions" down there? Do polynomials behave the way they do in our world? If we have time, we'll discuss ways to move between our world and these bizarre worlds using an even more bizarre miracle called "the p-adic numbers".