Questions and Answers 1

Does anyone know how to spell the author of the Number Theory book he mentioned?

He is soo sassy. He just says it with straight face XD

As an undergrad mathematics student from Greece, I'm going to say these videos are gold. Thank you professor!

Professor Borcherds, do you have any comments on Claus Schnorr's recent work on integer factorization? What would it mean for RSA and cryptography?

Laughed out loud at this comment:
"My normal procedure for dealing with difficulties is to ignore them because it is amazing how many problems go away if you just do nothing about them for a while."

"It is easier to ask for forgiveness than to ask for permission". Totally agree

Great video! Thank you. I appriciate your mentioning the book by Borevich and Shafarevich

This is great! Thanks for posting!

If you do a second Q&A answering again some non-mathematical questions, here are mine:
- What is your name?
- What is your quest?
- What is the air-velocity of an unladen swallow?

Sir, please explain field of definition of a variety

Hi Rich, how can one asks you in the future, if any. Thank you kindly

Is it common for mathematicians to not publicly reveal what they're working on?

I want to know why this man is such a boss. I challenge you to find a deeper question about our universe at the moment.

Thank you!

thank you for all these, have a lot left to learn, ordered myself some books, and i’m going to watch all your lectures :).

"Easier to ask for forgiveness than permission." This one is profound.

I find it really hard to understand cohomology theory and fibre bundle in the way that Steenrod's book narrates. Is there any suggestion?

do you have any hobbies? like playing card games or board games.

Dear professor, what's your favourite Lord of The Rings moment? (Of course I'm referring to the books)

The (geometric) Langlands program (which is the analogue of the Langlands program over the complex numbers) IS related to QFT (see the work of Kapustin--Witten on Electric-Magnetic duality).

Hi Prof. Borcherds, I'd love to know what you think about the news with Lean and Peter Scholze's "Liquid Tensor Experiment". Were you surprised that computer proof verification has come this far?

Professor, thank you so much for putting this video out in particular. Often times the mathematical giants de jour appear unapproachable- either through reputation or misconception. With yourself being as candid as you are in this video perhaps without meaning to you are inspiring a new generation to begin to pick up where others have left off. To see that even the masters in the field, those with the credentials and insight to move mountains, still necessitate struggle and effort with regard to learning new maths is a great humility and in so a great a inspiration as well. Thank you and I look forward to continuing learning under your virtual tutelage.

Awesome!

HE'S SO FUNNY OMG 🤣😭

What an awesome video! Can't wait for more this is truly amazing

Thank you for doing this! I've ran into you at a bit o a trying time as an undergrad math student, and some of your advice and opinions are exactly what i needed to hear to get some motivation.

Thanks professor for sharing these videos. It's just too wonderful for people who want to learn more about math and I really enjoy the way you talk about these mathematics terminologies and how they connect with each other.

Q: "Who is the nicest mathematician" A: "almost all mathematicians are nice.. " the nice ones choose math. the not so nice ones continue on with chess

that joke at the end is quite funny

Non-mathematician here. Saw this guy's long interview on another channel

Pretty modest for a Field's Medalist.

I read about him in Simon Baron-Cohen's discussion on high achievement and autism.

He seems to lack the "mind-blindness" that Baron-Cohen says is a prerequisite of autism. This is more evident in the interview I watched where he seemed pretty empathetic on a few points.

Impressive guy

Brilliant stuff Professor ⭐️….You are appreciated. Please keep it up. Wishing you the very best.

“Overflow errors” très drôle!

Caley was a lawyer...AND FERMAT! xD
I failed out of High School, but I love your videos!

The order of the Monster group (~ 8.08×10^53) is very, very close to the total mass (including dark matter) of the universe in kg (~ 8.8×10^53 kg) and the square root is almost exactly the diameter of the observable universe in meters (~ 8.8×10^26 m). Is it just a coincidence or is there a deeper meaning in it?

Richard: don’t bother remembering proofs.
Our university: big marks on reciting the proofs.

The professor's jokes are so lit! This is the first time I've actually sat through an entire Q&A video.

Beautiful video! I especially love his comment starting around 6m29s:
``As to what the foundations of mathematics will be, well the foundations of
mathematics have never been set theory or category theory or type theory
and never will be. The foundations always consist of properties of the
natural numbers. Now, set theory is a very useful and powerful method
of describing properties -- very complicated properties -- of natural
numbers, and category theory and type theory are wonderful book keeping
devices for doing mathematics, but none of them are truly the foundations
of mathematics. They're all sort of... they're not really fundamental.''
I've always found category theory less ``fundamental'' than its fans claim it to be. There are also some hilarious side remarks if you continue listening afterward. Who needs fancy animation when you have Richard Borcherds? Thank you, Professor Borcherds!

"It is amazing how many problems go away if you just do nothing about them for a while"

Thanks, I am going to try this with my taxes!

Thank you very much dear professor. It's always great to hear your insights and opinions.

You are trying the Birch Swinnerton or RH I am sure.

Had it been not RH, you might not have kept it a secret.

Thanks for doing this!

Thank you for your channel and videos!!!