Log in
Join travelers community
Your Profile
Logout
Part IX
Montréal, Columbus, July/August 1986 (part IX)
Peter Cameron2006-03-07 22:14:53
Displayed times (last time: )
6/8/86, 0659
No time for the coffee house yesterday. I had intended to run in the morning, but was too lazy in the event, just sat eating breakfast instead. Then we went in to the University, and Michel propogandized me on the subject of paratransversal systems, with some effect -- I did the calculations for the example consisting of some lines of an affine plane. Also I found an 8×8 weighing design with a partition not arising from our earlier construction, so destroying our characterization of "ternary projective planes" of order 4.
We worked so hard that we forgot about lunch until after 1.30. We walked across the square looking for somewhere to eat but without success. There was no time for anything too elaborate because Michel was talking at 2.
It was interesting stuff, attempting to characterize embeddability of finite metric spaces in l^2 by "hypermetric" inequalities. Far too much material for an hour, though, and it didn't help that the projector didn't come until half-wy through.
I followed on with sum-free sets. It went OK. Several group theorists came. I don't know whether they went away disappointed. But I enjoyed myself, even though it didn't have quite the impact it should have.
After that, some farewell words from Michel, then off to dinner with Bannai and Ito at a Japanese restaurant. Sushi on a large bed of rice, then shabu-shabu on another large bed of rice. Very good, enormously filling. Lovely calm relaxing surroundings, with the attention of a beautiful Japanese waitress to explain the technique of cooking the shabu-shabu; we talked little about mathematics, some about this and that, and I felt very calm.
We spun out our time at the restaurant until 8 with cups of tea and then went to Bannai's house, where he played with his baby and his wife served us with a delicious red bean confection and pieces of melon (which the baby loved).
At about 9.30 he brought
...
See photographs from:
Canada Gallery
