Panels

• The Challenge of Education
  Bruno Autin

  Proposed Topics:

  • UNESCO strategy for spreading knowledge in emerging countries: global vs local approach. UNESCO (to be confirmed)
  • How to create a UNESCO chair for Mathematica and its applications. UNESCO (to be confirmed)
  • Wolfram Research strategy in emerging countries. WRI (to be confirmed)
  • The example of Denmark. Kurt Bøge (to be confirmed)

• About New Kind of Science
  Bernard François

  Presentation: I am the translator in French of A New Kind Of Science (NKS) of Stephen Wolfram (estimated release late 2006). I want to present different forms of the relation between NKS and Mathematica, and the long-range effect of NKS for mathematics and others various fields. As mathemathics, Mathematica and NKS have all three very closed connexions, we can see all these consequences like consequences of mathematics themselves, supporting new efficient and central visions on different areas where mathematics were just tools among others until now. NKS is a special branch of Wolfram science, but no separated, working on complexity and emergence, with new terminology and concepts (4 classes of behavior, intrinsec randomness, Principle of Computational Equivalence ..) and new methodology (cellular automaton, pictures, experimental mathematics ..). We will discuss also different reactions after the release of the book in U-S and G-B in 2002, and news on NKS research.

• User Groups and Networks
  Pierre Albarède and Rémi Barrère

  Content: The state of the art is actually an inventory of the current ressources. Beyond the WRI centralized support, one can quote: math group (http://smc.vnet.net/MathGroup.html), which is generally thought of as the international MUG, plus a bunch of local user groups, the recent wiki-Mathematica (http://www.mathematica-users.org), a few webMathematica services and a number of local initiatives, often found on the web, ranging from simple web pages to attempts to provide with dedicated services (e.g., imtek-ims, http://www.imtek.de/simulation/mathematica/IMSweb/).
  A first question is about the way user discussion lists might be structured so as to avoid huge lists overwhelmed by mixtures of basic questions from beginners and advanced questions for experts. Structuring the Mathematica community into several interacting levels might constitute a solution (e.g., institution, country and international levels). It nevertheless raises questions about the organization and the technical ressources enabling such a structuring (e.g., nested discussion lists).
  Another question regards the launching of networks and associated "virtual" teaching, research or developer entities, probably based on web ressources. For many Mathematica practitionners who suffer from ostracism in their institutions, with the correlated difficulty in finding funds, such networks might bring some help.

• Art and Architecture
  Philippe Morel

  Presentation: Among others, architects Andrew Saunders (Rensselaer School of Architecture, New York), Yevgeniy Beylkin, Margarita Valova and Elif Erdine (Architectural Association, London) will participate to this roundtable.
  The ultimate ambition of the 'Art & Architecture Discussion Panel' is to enrich the debate around the importance of software and technical computing environment in the disciplines of art and architecture. Hence, a short introduction regarding contemporary architectural issues is proposed. Its aim is to make available to non-architects important and recent developments in the discipline of architecture. Its aim is also to give an overview of the different problems that make the Mathematica software relevant to contemporary architecture, for both non-architects and architects.

• Is Sudoku just a small puzzle or an interesting research problem ?
  Yves Papegay

  Content: Since November 2004 when The Times launched their first Sudoku puzzle, millions of people have exercised their brain on the small puzzle. In the meantime tens of thousands of people have exercised their pens in writing papers on history of these puzzles, methods to solve them, diversity of their variants and their mathematics fundations. At the same time, thousands of computer addicts were implementing computers program for solving the challenges, and to generate them. More recently, tens of academics expressed their interest in Sudoku and how the small puzzle led them to concrete advances in algorithm design.
  Topics discussed here includes solving challenges, link between Sudoku and constraint programming, rating challenges, generating challenges.