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Suppose someone understands 0% of that. What would I type into DDG or Wikipedia to start? Like, ecliptic curves are part of libsoduim/nacl - does it mean somet

• couchand 3y ago
  As someone who understands about 2% of the GP but maybe 85% of TFA, I'd suggest diving into the various topics explored there. Galois Fields, for instance, are a rich topic for Wikipedia research and have intuitive and surprising properties that make them fun to learn about. This will lead you deeper into study of abstract algebra concepts like groups and rings. If you haven't done much set theory you will probably go deep on that and develop an opinion on the Axiom of Choice. Then you'll probably surface a bit to look at elliptic curves and consider their many applications in abstract and concrete topics like cryptography and the elusive proof of Fermat's Last Theorem. By then you'll have caught up to me. In the meantime I'll be reading up on module forms and L-functions.
• tanvach 3y ago
  I highly recommend the PeakMath (https://youtube.com/@PeakMathLandscape?si=zQg6bbp2SvfqzKYm https://youtube.com/@PeakMathLandscape?si=zQg6bbp2SvfqzKYm) RH saga video series on YouTube for this topic. They are excellent, and not requiring more than high school maths knowledge to really get quite deep into the mysterious connections between prime numbers, Riemann hypothesis, elliptic curves and L-Functions.
  • ykonstant 3y ago
    I second this recommendation; it is serious material made very accessible. The channel is great, and this series is truly a marvel. However, while it does not require more knowledge than high school math, it does require more maturity and certainly lots of patience.