Dear Topologists and Friends of Topology, Bus will give the seminar talk this afternoon at 3:30 in MSCS 514.

Title: Minimal Triangulations of 3-manifolds

Abstract: The complexity of a 3-manifold M, denoted C(M), is the minimal number of tetrahedra necessary to triangulate M. We discuss the problem of determining the complexity of a 3-manifold and provide the complexities for certain infinite families of 3-manifolds. These are the only known infinite families of complexities. We will outline a proof in a rather approachable case by showing that the complexity of the product of a surface having genus g and the unit interval is 10g-4.