On isolated strata of pentagonal Riemann surfaces in the branch locus of moduli spaces

This volume contains the proceedings of three AMS Special Sessions on Computational Algebraic and Analytic Geometry for Low-Dimensional Varieties held January 8, 2007, in New Orleans, LA; January 6, 2009, in Washington, DC; and January 6, 2011, in New Orleans, LA. Algebraic, analytic, and geometric methods are used to study algebraic curves and Riemann surfaces from a variety of points of view. The object of the study is the same. The methods are different. The fact that a multitude of methods, stemming from very different mathematical cultures, can be used to study the same objects makes this area both fascinating and challenging.