Gems in Experimental Mathematics

Book excerpt: These proceedings reflect the special session on Experimental Mathematics held January 5, 2009, at the Joint Mathematics Meetings in Washington, DC as well as some papers specially solicited for this volume. Experimental Mathematics is a recently structured field of Mathematics that uses the computer and advanced computing technology as a tool to perform experiments. These include the analysis of examples, testing of new ideas, and the search of patterns to suggest results and to complement existing analytical rigor. The development of a broad spectrum of mathematical software products, such as MathematicaR and MapleTM, has allowed mathematicians of diverse backgrounds and interests to use the computer as an essential tool as part of their daily work environment. This volume reflects a wide range of topics related to the young field of Experimental Mathematics. The use of computation varies from aiming to exclude human input in the solution of a problem to traditional mathematical questions for which computation is a prominent tool.