Rod's Photo

If you want to study logic at VUW you should click here

PUBLICATIONS:

Should you wish to get any of the papers, first try my online publications. Earlier papers can be sent upon request. Here is my current CV.

I have also included some of my recent talks, in postscript and .pdf form.

HISTORIES and INTERVIEWS:

Also, I have put a kind of personal history resulting from an interview profiling scientists within New Zealand for a project for Anne Noble from Massey University. It is a word document. It reads slightly strangely as the questions are left out. Also an article with similar elements written for the New Zealand Mathematical Society Centerfold, and here in pdf. Also Cris Calude interviewed me for the EATCS Bulletin here. I have a link to an interview for mathematics popularization called ``Complexity, Computation and a Bit of Fuzzy Logic'' for the mathsreach project. As part of Lance Fortnow's talk on resource bounded rationality I was interviewed by a TV station in Hawai'i, here is the talk and the interview. Here is another interview for the National University of Singapore Institute for Mathematical Sciences (in draft form with a wrong caption on the photo). The final was in their magazine. A lecture (the Ng Kong Ben Public Lecture) I did on Turing at the time has this video and this poster.

Finally, I was honoured to receive the Rutherford Medal from the NZ Royal Society. I was interviewed by Alison Ballance (Our Changing World) on Radio New Zealand. I was also interviewed by Graeme Hill (Weekend Variety Wireless) (also) on Radio New Zealand. I gave a speech at the Awards dinner. Here is a longer version where I can properly thank those who have helped me down through the years. Before the Rutherford tour, I gave a longish interview with Catherine Ryan on Radion New Zealand 9 to noon. Finally here is the lecture ``Logic, Maths and Modern Society''.

SCOTTISH COUNTRY DANCING:

I have put five books - THE CANE TOAD COLLECTION, THE TUATARA COLLECTION, THE JOHNSONVILLE COLLECTION, THEY STOLE MY WIFE FROM ME LAST NIGHT, and THE GOLDEN BEAR COLLECTION- plus THE PĪWAKAWAKA COLLECTION (new dances under formation) of my Scottish Country Dances plus some more recent dances, which is in .pdf format. Feel free to download these, and please contact me if you have feedback. I just love to know that they are danced. This is an issue of the NZIMA Images magazine with an article on my work and Scottish Country Dancing. Finally, following some requests, I have put some thoughts on the relationship between mathematics and SCD. And slides <\a> from a talk on this to the Royal Society Hawkes Bay Branch. I have some theories on how to teach Scottish Country Dancing, and here they are. It also talks about our recruitment and retention efforts at Johnsonville.

BOOKS

With Denis Hirschfeldt I have written a book Algorithmic Randomness and Complexity It is now published. Buy one for your friends. Here is the table of contents and introduction and the like. Here is the table of contents. Here is a site listing errors and corrections. We plan to add exercises to this site ``soon''.

RANDOMNESS

Background information on algorithmic randomness can be obtained from my Scholarpedia Article with Jan Reimann: Rodney G. Downey and Jan Reimann (2007) Algorithmic randomness. Scholarpedia, 2(10):2574

PARAMETERIZED COMPLEXITY

With Mike Fellows I have written a book Fundamentals of Parameterized Complexity Buy two for your friends! Here is the current list of errors. For background information on parameterized complexity go to here, or buy the nice festchrift volume for Fellows The Multivariate Algorithmic Revolution and Beyond.

FESTSCHRIFT

Here is the cover of a very nice Festschrift organized by a bunch of former students, postdocs and colleagues. It has the ``La Spirale'' progression on the cover based on a handwritten version my wife Kristin sent in.

Festschrift

STUDENTS

I have had some very fine graduate students and this link will take you to their theses.

MARSDEN GRANTS

I have put some thoughts about Marsden Grant applications. (Updated 2018)

MATHS AT VUW

Should you want information about courses first try the school web page.

Cane Toad

  • cane_toad.pdf

    SURFING

    Finally I have put a picture of four of the beautiful breaks in New Zealand. They are Haldane, Breaker Bay (twice), Lake Ferry (twice) and Makara Point, and Tora.

    Haldane

    Breakers

    Breakers 2

    Ferry

    Makara Point

    Tora