Title: Computation with Polynomials

Abstract: Computational Complexity can come across as a forbidding discipline with hard-to-state problems and harder (or no) solutions. In this talk, I will describe an approach to a famous question in Complexity theory (called the VP vs. VNP conjecture) to an elementary question about polynomials that hopefully anyone can understand. I will tell you a little bit about some progress we made toward answering this question recently, and what that means for Complexity theory and Algorithms.