[AntiGuv]

prime ping?

;^)

[muir_redwoods]

"But the important role played by the number 42 has recently persuaded even the deepest skeptics that the subatomic world might hold the key to one of the greatest unsolved problems in mathematics."

Paging Douglas Addams

[tang-soo]

role played by the number 42 has recently persuaded

No Way!!! This is hilarious, the ultimate answer! God Bless Douglas Adams.

[muawiyah]

Mathematics is not science?

Who told you that?

[dhs12345]

Humans are remarkable. We have the ability to view nature in a way that is very abstract and very often correct.

More than just random chance (IMHO).

[stylin19a]

And of course, everyone knows the Primes went on to become the Temptations.

[Psycho_Bunny]

42

[patton]

There exists a simple, algebraic proof to fermat - I just don't have room for it in this post...

[stacytec]

I understand that quantum mechanics can also cook a mean omelet.

[tophat9000]

bump

[Vicomte13]

I read it.
I reread it.
And I couldn't help thinking..."this article is about Prime Numbers, and they're talking about the number 42".
Which isn't a prime number.
I suppose it's the product of the first three primes.
Certainly the article could have added a little but more that air of hocus-pocus mystery (without, however, saying anything), by adding that detail, with a suitably raised editorial eyebrow of course.

[js1138]

Does this mean we don't need Deep Thought, or does it mean we do?

[Fudd]

4 8 15 16 23 42... 4 8 15 16 23 42... 4 8 15 16 23 42... 4 8 15 16 23 42... 4 8 15 16 23 42... 4 8 15 16 23 42... 4 8 15 16 23 42... 4 8 15 16 23 42... 4 8 15 16 23 42... 4 8 15 16 23 42... 4 8 15 16 23 42... 4 8 15 16 23 42... 4 8 15 16 23 42... 4 8 15 16 23 42... 4 8 15 16 23 42... 4 8 15 16 23 42...

[Right Wing Assault]

"What is so deep about this number 19?" Louis Farrakhan

[Allan]

ping

[Doohickey]

Okay, when did 42 become a prime number?

[SteveMcKing]

It would mean that the primes behave rather like the random molecules of gas in a room: Although you might not know quite where each molecule is, you can be sure that there won't be a vacuum at one corner and a concentration of molecules at the other.

The frequency with which some part of a room will suddenly exhibit a substantial vacuum is - disturbingly - real and calculable. I believe it is many times the age of the universe for most examples, but it is something crazy to consider no less.

[colorado tanker]

Why do I have the feeling there must be some kind of Fatwa against this?

[snowsislander]

I am somewhat surprised that the fact that it is indeed possible to generate the primes from a set of diophantine equations doesn't get more play:

Another approach might be to ask if there is a non-constant polynomial all of whose positive values (as the variables range in the set of non-negative integers) are all primes. Matijasevic showed this was possible in 1971 [Matijasevic71], and in 1976 Jones, Sato, Wada and Wiens gave the following explicit example of such a polynomial with 26 variables (and degree 25).

(k+2){1 – [wz+h+j–q]² – [(gk+2g+k+1)(h+j)+h–z]² – [2n+p+q+z–e]² – [16(k+1)³(k+2)(n+1)²+1–f²]² – [e³(e+2)(a+1)²+1–o²]² – [(a²–1)y²+1–x²]² – [16r²y⁴(a²–1)+1–u²]² – [((a+u²(u²–a))² –1)(n+4dy)² + 1 – (x+cu)²]² – [n+l+v–y]² – [(a²–1)l²+1–m²]² – [ai+k+1–l–i]² – [p+l(a–n–1)+b(2an+2a–n²–2n–2)–m]² – [q+y(a–p–1)+s(2ap+2a–p²–2p–2)–x]² – [z+pl(a–p)+t(2ap–p²–1)–pm]²}

(From the web page http://primes.utm.edu/glossary/page.php/MatijasevicPoly.html . You can find them broken out here at MathWorld.)

[P.O.E.]

Maybe something to do with harmonics?