Check out the latest updates on the WCNT 2023 Schedule.
We’ll keep it regularly updated as we gather more information from our speakers. If you haven’t signed up for a session or have any issues, questions, or changes, do not hesitate to reach out to Nandita or Eva directly or through the #help channel on Slack. Alternatively, you may also shoot us an email at info@westcoastnumbertheory.org.
Posted in Uncategorized
Hello Number Theorists,
Thanks to the tireless work of Gerry Myerson, the notes from the 2022 problem sessions are now available online. Thanks, Gerry, for all your hard work!
For this problem set and many more, visit our Problem Sets page.
Posted in Uncategorized
We are pleased to invite you to the 2023 edition of the West Coast Number Theory (WCNT) Conference (the 54th such conference).
West Coast Number Theory 2023
Full Details available at https://westcoastnumbertheory.org/registration
Registration for WCNT 2023 is now open. Early registration ends November 15, 2023, after which registration fees will increase by $25.
We’ve secured a block of apartments through Nevada State University’s campus housing for the conference. On-campus housing is $200/person for the duration of the event (check-in December 15 and check-out December 19, which comes to $50/night). Due to limitations in space, on-campus housing is available on a first-come, first-served basis through the WCNT registration process.
To register for on-campus housing, please complete the conference registration form by the November 15th early registration deadline. We will be unable to accept requests for on-campus housing after November 15th. Your room will be considered booked once you have completed payment for your room. Rooms are non-refundable.
Full details on accommodations, both on-campus and otherwise, can be found at: https://westcoastnumbertheory.org/contact-us/location/.
As always, the finalized schedule will be posted after the first business meeting and will depend on the number of talks that are submitted. The conference will resemble the in-person events of the past, beginning with an opening banquet, followed by the first business meeting.
This year, the opening banquet will be held on December 15, 2023, at 5:00 p.m., at Trattoria Italia. Tickets for the Banquet are $60 (Kids are $20). The first business meeting to follow at 7:30 p.m. at Nevada State University’s Christenson Education Building (CEB) in rooms 211 and 212 (they are the same room).
WCNT will feature three main kinds of sessions:
Once established after the first business meeting, this year’s talk schedule will be posted at WCNT 2023 Schedule.
For more on the schedule: https://westcoastnumbertheory.org/schedule/
West Coast Number Theory has always aimed to be a conference without barriers. We have a childcare option for attendees who wish to participate but have little ones they need to take care of. Childcare will be available at Nevada State University for the entire duration of the event: December 15 – December 19.
There will be a separate fee for childcare. If you are interested in using childcare, please indicate this on your registration form before November 15th, and we will contact you with further details.
We realize there can be challenges to attending any form of event. If you have circumstances that would make it difficult for you to participate in the event this year, and you think a small grant (<$200) could help you to overcome these challenges, please submit a proposal answering the questions “how much” and “how it will help” to: info@westcoastnumbertheory.org.
WCNT is a small, community-oriented conference. In order to succeed, we need help from you, our community, in the form of volunteers. There are dozens of places where we can use a helping hand, so please let us know if you’re willing to help out by sending us a quick note.
Note: We’re more shorthanded than usual this year, as Amy and Kjell will be welcoming a new member to their family and will be buried in, well, baby things. If you’ve been on the fence about volunteering, this year is a perfect opportunity to take the plunge! (and we could definitely use the help). Contact us at info@westcoastnumbertheory.org.
Check out the conference website for more details about the meeting, especially the schedule of previous conferences to help you establish a timeline:
https://westcoastnumbertheory.org
or contact the organizers at info@westcoastnumbertheory.org.
See you in December!
Posted in Uncategorized
We’re excited to announce that the 2023 West Coast Number Theory Conference (WCNT) will take place in person December 15-19 at Nevada State University, Henderson, NV, just 30 minutes from downtown Las Vegas.
More details and registration information will be sent out soon. Please save the dates—we’d love to see you there!
Posted in Uncategorized
We are pleased to announce the winners of the 2022 Dick and Emma Lehmer prizes, given to the organizing committee’s favorite talks of the conference, one to a new speaker at the conference, and another chosen from among all the speakers.
The 2022 recipients of the Lehmer Prize are:
Congratulations to our award winners, and we hope to see you in 2023!
Posted in Announcements, Prizes
The 2022 WCNT Schedule has now been posted. Thanks Amy Wooding for all your hard work putting it together!
And once again, thanks to the tireless efforts of Gerry Myerson. the 2021 Problem Set is also available.
See you online, and at Asilomar!
Posted in Announcements, Problem Sets
We are pleased to invite you to the 2022 edition of the West Coast Number Theory (WCNT) Conference (the 53rd such conference). This year’s event is dedicated to the memory of WCNT’s first attendee: John Brillhart, who passed away on May 21, 2022, at the age of 91.
We will be honoring the memory of John Brillhart in a special session of talks and an in-person banquet. John instilled in us a strong sense of inclusiveness, accessibility, welcoming, and not taking ourselves too seriously in hosting WCNT. We remember John and his influence on us as we continue the tradition of an informal, welcoming, family-style event where we can enjoy eating cookies while sharing our stories, laughs and mathematics together.
WCNT 2022 will be a hybrid event—with the first half primarily-virtual (Dec 15-17, 2022), and the second primarily-in-person (Dec 18-19, 2022). The primarily-in-person events will take place at the Asilomar Conference Grounds in Pacific Grove, CA. There will be childcare available for the duration of the conference (virtual and in-person) at Asilomar. In short:
West Coast Number Theory 2022: In Memory of John Brillhart
Full Details: http://westcoastnumbertheory.org
This year, WCNT will feature three main kinds of sessions:
Registration for WCNT 2022 is now open. Early registration ends November 15, 2022, after which registration fees will increase by $25. Limited financial assistance may be available for those who need it.
Full details on registration and accommodations can be found at https://westcoastnumbertheory.org/registration.
We’re at Asilomar, and it’s still West Coast Number Theory, but to keep doing it well, we have to evolve with a rapidly changing landscape. We’ll highlight some of the differences in this year’s event below. Please see the website for complete event details.
In the spirit of making a space that’s accessible and welcoming to all, this year’s event will be a hybrid event. Some portions will be hosted primarily-virtual, and some primarily-in-person. (This is our first attempt at hybrid at WCNT.)
The primarily-virtual, portion of WCNT 2022 will be held from December 15-17. Talks, problem sessions, and community sessions will be presented live on Zoom, and where possible, recorded for offline (time-shifted) viewing by attendees.
We will also have in-person gathering spaces and ways to engage in-person during the mainly virtual portion of the conference. Please note that having a way to connect online to Zoom will be essential for all participants, including those who are present at Asilomar (if this would be a barrier for you in some way, please let us know and we will help as best as we can).
The first event will be an virtual opening reception hosted on Zoom the night of December 15th, followed by the first business meeting, where we schedule the talks for both the virtual and in-person components.
We will also follow the tradition of only scheduling a half-day on December 17th.
The primarily-in-person portion of WCNT 2022 will be held from Dec 18-19 at the Asilomar Conference Grounds.
Talks, problem sessions, and community sessions will be presented in-person during these days. We are planning to record the talks from the primarily-in-person portion of the conference and to make them available online for all participants. However, we will not be live-streaming talks (we’ll save that challenge for a future edition of the conference).
There will be an in-person banquet on Dec 18. Tickets for this banquet are $65. (Children 3-12 y.o. are $30, 2 and under are free)
Note on accommodations: Unlike in the past, there is no room block for WCNT at Asilomar. In other words, no rooms are being held for the conference, and no meals will be provided. At this time of year, there is lots of availability in the area, so feel free to stay at the hotel of your choice, and enjoy the great food the area has to offer. (Heck, you could even stay at Asilomar!). A list of nearby hotels is on the location page for the conference.
There will be special sessions during both the online and in-person portions of the conference to celebrate the contributions of John Brillhart. If you would like to give a talk in these sessions, please make a note of that on your registration form. The banquet on the 18th will be held in honour of John (in-person only).
In addition, Tom Struck is donating John’s large collection of math (especially Number Theory) books to the in-person attendees of West Coast Number Theory. In his words:
I very much would like to distribute them for free to any who wanted them; I think that John would love to have them in the hands (and libraries) of fellow mathematicians who would enjoy them as reference material just as he did.
Thanks to Tom for this incredibly generous gesture!
West Coast Number Theory has always aimed to be a conference without barriers. This year, we are adding a childcare option for attendees who wish to participate in either the virtual or in-person portions of the event, but have little ones they need to take care of.
Childcare will be available at Asilomar for the full duration of the event: Dec 15 – Dec 19. (Note: this includes the primarily-virtual portion of event, so attendees can fully participate in WCNT, while knowing that their kids are well taken care of).
There will be a separate fee for childcare. If you are interested in making use of childcare, please indicate this on your registration form, and we will be in contact with further details.
We realize there can be challenges to attending any form of event. If you have circumstances that would make it difficult for you to attend WCNT this year, and you think a small grant could help you to overcome these challenges, please submit a proposal answering the questions “how much” and “how it will help” to: info@westcoastnumbertheory.org.
Posted in Announcements
With a heavy heart, we bring you the news that West Coast Number Theory’s very first participant, John Brillhart, has died this year.
John passed away on May 21, 2022, at the age of 91.
A few years ago, we asked John to describe the origin of the meeting now known as the West Coast Number Theory conference. This is the message he sent in reply:
In January 1967, I got my PhD from Berkeley under D. H. Lehmer and then moved to Tucson, Arizona that fall to start teaching at the University of Arizona. That December at Christmas, I returned to Berkeley to visit my family, so the Lehmers and Robinsons decided to have a Christmas get-together in the form of an informal mini meeting with talks as well.
Dana Scott, Hansraj Gupta, and Don Knuth, who drove up from Stanford, came to the meeting. It was very pleasant. The following Christmas, when I again returned to Berkeley, the party/meeting was repeated; Emma Lehmer and Julia Robinson this time made cookies.
In August of 1969, there was a remarkable meeting at Oxford University on computational number theory to which a huge representation of number theorists came. There is a wonderful photograph of this meeting that is available on the internet. It was at this meeting that the Lehmers decided that they would make the Christmas meeting an annual affair, which they did the following Christmas. And thus, the meeting was founded, and though it has changed over the years, it has remained the same informal, pleasant venue that welcomes mathematicians, young and old, to come and talk about what they want.
John Brillhart is likely best known mathematically for his work on the continued fraction factoring algorithm with Mike Morrison, which is said to have ushered in the modern age of integer factoring methods.
John was also one of the original board members of the Number Theory Foundation, a non-profit organization that supports number theory events.
We will be honoring John Brillhart this year during the West Coast Number Theory conference Dec 15-19, 2022.
Posted in Uncategorized
We are pleased to announce the winners of the 2021 Emma and Dick Lehmer prizes, given to the organizing committee’s favorite talks of the conference. Since we were having an agonizingly difficult time picking just two excellent talks, and since we didn’t give out any awards during the pandemic pause of 2020, we decided to double the number of recipients this time around.
The 2021 recipients of the Lehmer Prize are:
Congratulations to all our award winners, and we hope to see you in 2022!
Posted in Announcements, Prizes
Thanks to the tireless work of Gerry Myerson, the notes from the 2019 problem sessions are now available online. Thanks Gerry for all your hard work!
For this problem set, and many more, visit our Problem Sets page.
Posted in Problem Sets
West Coast Number Theory 2023 
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