Math Mystery: Shinichi Mochizuki and the Impenetrable Proof

Scientific American ^ | 10/8/15 | Davide Castelvecchi

[Fai Mao]

Interesting article

I take notes in symbolic logic but I am dyslexic and the moment you call it “Algebra” I am lost. I can’t remember the formulas

[traderrob6]

Well, I don’t even know what the “ABC conjecture” is.

[dp0622]

can you sum up this article in a paragraph that makes sense to someone without a 180 IQ?

[LibWhacker]

No shame there; it was first put forward only in 1985. I hadn't heard of it either. It has to do with the divisors of a, b and c, in an equation such as a + b = c. I would hate to have to try to understand this guy's proof.

[MUDDOG]

The abc conjecture

That? I have a wonderful proof.

Oops, the margin is too small to write it down.

BTW they didn't understand Desargues or Grassmann either. But this guy takes the cake.

[samtheman]

42

[Talisker]

I take notes in symbolic logic but I am dyslexic and the moment you call it “Algebra” I am lost. I can’t remember the formulas.

Interesting. I can work out actual calculus problems, but lose it when I think about their explanations (numbers approaching infinity in whatever context, especially).

[MUDDOG]

If you prove the abc conjecture, it enables you to solve a bunch of other number theory problems, because abc implies that these other problems have a finite number of possible cases, and you can brute force it from there.

But this guy’s methods are so unfamiliar to other mathematicians, they can’t follow the reasoning he used to prove abc.

[mjp]

Shinichi Mochizuki

[bgill]

“I think it would be pretty bad if we just forgot about it. It would be sad.”

No. No, it wouldn't be sad.

BTW, the answer is 3.

[morphing libertarian]

Bkmrk

[DuncanWaring]

I didn’t either.

Never even heard of it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abc_conjecture

[EEGator]

Jap math nerd might have solved a really hard problem, or maybe not.

[Larry Lucido]

The answer is -8pi alpha.

[this_ol_patriot]

In case anyone wants to try:

http://www.kurims.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~motizuki/papers-english.html

[fr_freak]

I think we’re all missing the more important question here: how does this proof help us build a better sex robot?

[Cold Heat]

Jap math nerd might have solved a really hard problem, or maybe not.

Not sure why I even read this..I can't stand to think in numbers..I have always hated mathematics..I get mental blocks, my head will not go there..

Having said that, my reading of this indicates that this is way more than solving a math problem. I think this guy has invented or uncovered might be the better term to use, a new branch or offshoot of mathematics in the process of solving this problem.

If so, it's the biggest thing to happen in my lifetime insofar as the science of math.

[Up Yours Marxists]

https://youtu.be/4ZfpwfQ58Ds

[paint_your_wagon]

” I have a wonderful proof...the margin is too small to write it down”

from Goedel, Escher, Bach on Fermat’s last theorem.