Finding a point on a variety amounts to finding a solution to a system of
polynomials. Finding a "rational point" on a variety amounts to finding a
solution with coordinates in a fixed base field. (Warning: our base field
will not be the field of rational numbers Q.) We will present some
theorems about when it is possible to find such a rational point. We will
state Tsen's theorem and the Chevalley-Warning Theorem. We will also
state some more recent results of Hassett-Tschinkel and
Graber-Harris-Starr, which rely on the notion of a "rationally connected
variety". This notion is an analogue of the notion of "path
connectedness" in topology.

The Weil Conjectures are one of the most beautiful theorems in mathematics. In the number field context zeta and L-functions are transcendental. It is well known, for example, that zeta(2)=pi^2/6. The values of these functions, even at integers, are not well understood. The Weil conjectures state the perhaps shocking result that the function field analogues of these functions are almost as simple as possible: they are rational functions. Further, they include the analogue of the Riemann Hypothesis for function fields. In this talk we will explore what the Weil conjectures say, as well as how they are proven.

In this talk, we present the family of generalized Hessian curves.

The family of generalized Hessian curves covers more isomorphism classes of elliptic curves than Hessian curves.

We provide efficient unified addition formulas for generalized Hessian curves. The formulas even feature completeness for suitably chosen curve parameters.

We also also present extremely fast addition formulas for generalized binary Hessian curves. The fastest projective addition formulas require $9\M+3\s$, where $\M$ is the cost of a field multiplication and $\s$ is the cost of a field squaring. Moreover, very fast differential addition and doubling formulas are provided that need only $5\M+4\s$ when the curve is chosen with small parameters.