Speaker: Yam Felsenstein

Title: Tarski’s High School Algebra Problem.

Abstract: In high school, we all learned algebraic rules for simplifying expressions regarding (positive) integers and the standard operations of addition, multiplication and exponentiation. In the 1960s, Tarski asked if these rules are sufficient to derive all possible identities on positive integers. In this talk we will explore nonstandard models satisfying the so-called ‘High School Identities’, as well as answer Tarski’s original question, and discuss the finite axiomatisation of identities of positive integers.