Ari Shnidman, Temple University
The BSD conjecture is one of the Clay millennium problems and a central open question in number theory. It predicts that the number of independent rational points on an elliptic curve is determined by the asymptotic growth of the point counts mod p via the Hasse-Weil L-function. I'll go over the history and precise formulation of the conjecture, and what is currently known. This is background information for the next two talks by Ani and Coco.