The classical partition function from a modern perspective

Richard E. Crandall, Center for Advanced Computation, Reed College

Abstract: The celebrated partition function p(n) that counts partitions of n remains---even after 2 centuries---shrouded in mystery. For example, it remains unknown whether the parities p(n) mod 2 are ``random." Moreover, p(n) is difficult to compute for very large n. But there are new, fast algorithms that lessen the effort. Some such algorithms have been implemented to answer certain statistical questions about the elusive p(n).