Two Lectures on Constructive Type Theory

Main Goal: One goal of these two lectures is to explain how important ideas and problems from computer science and mathematics can be expressed well in constructive type theory and how proof assistants for type theory help us solve them. Another goal is to note examples of abstract mathematical ideas currently not expressed well enough in type theory. The two lec-tures will address the following three specific questions related to this goal. Three Questions: One, what are the most important foundational ideas in computer science and mathematics that are expressed well in constructive type theory, and what concepts are more difficult to express? Two, how can proof assistants for type theory have a large impact on research and education, specifically in computer science, mathematics, and beyond? Three, what key ideas from type theory are students missing if they know only one of the modern type theories? The lectures are intended to complement the hands-on Nuprl tutorials by Dr. Mark Bickford that will introduce new topics as well as address these questions. The lectures refer to recent educational material posted on the PRL project web page, www.nuprl.org, especially the on-line article Logical Investigations, July 2014 on the front page of the web cite