Desingularization in Computational Applications and Experiments

After briefly recalling some computational aspects of blowing up and of representation of resolution data common to a wide range of desingularization algorithms (in the general case as well as in special cases like surfaces or binomial varieties), we shall proceed to computational applications of resolution of singularities in singularity theory and algebraic geometry, also touching on relations to algebraic statistics and machine learning. Namely, we explain how to compute the intersection form and dual graph of resolution for surfaces, how to determine discrepancies, the log-canoncial threshold and the topological Zeta-function on the basis of desingularization data. We shall also briefly see how resolution data comes into play for Bernstein-Sato polynomials, and we mention some settings in which desingularization algorithms can be used for computational experiments. The latter is simply an invitation to the readers to think themselves about experiments using existing software, whenever it seems suitable for their own work.Comment: notes of a summer school talk; 16 pages; 1 figur