Posted on 03/25/2005 8:50:03 AM PST by bedolido
A number puzzle originating in the work of self-taught maths genius Srinivasa Ramanujan nearly a century ago has been solved. The solution may one day lead to advances in particle physics and computer security.
Karl Mahlburg, a graduate student at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, US, has spent a year putting together the final pieces to the puzzle, which involves understanding patterns of numbers.
"I have filled notebook upon notebook with calculations and equations," says Mahlburg, who has submitted a 10-page paper of his results to the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The patterns were first discovered by Ramanujan, who was born in India in 1887 and flunked out of college after just a year because he neglected his studies in subjects outside of mathematics.
But he was so passionate about the subject he wrote to mathematicians in England outlining his theories, and one realised his innate talent. Ramanujan was brought to England in 1914 and worked there until shortly before his untimely death in 1920 following a mystery illness.
Curious patterns Ramanujan noticed that whole numbers can be broken into sums of smaller numbers, called partitions. The number 4, for example, contains five partitions: 4, 3+1, 2+2, 1+1+2, and 1+1+1+1.
He further realised that curious patterns - called congruences - occurred for some numbers in that the number of partitions was divisible by 5, 7, and 11. For example, the number of partitions for any number ending in 4 or 9 is divisible by 5.
(Excerpt) Read more at newscientist.com ...
I invented the "clapper" but forgot to patent it.
Errr..... 0 through 9 and A through F.
Prior art: Notre Dame.
Read the article. The result has to do with properties of prime numbers.
I could have told him long ago that the answer is 42.
In math you can find interesting patterns or way numbers work, but it's all just an idea until someone can mathematically prove it. It was thought this pattern extended to all prime numbers, but it was only a thought, a guess. This grad student proved it.
Which was an excellent movie, in my opinion. I heard that the director of Pi was supposed to be working on the next Batman movie, dunno how true that is.
Seems rather bizarre, however, I liked the movie "Pi". LOL!
I saw an episode of "Numbers" and I really didn't like it very well.
I think you two just proved a Ramanujan congruence.
O.K.! Now go do your Gazinta's.
Nope. That was just designed to hide the truth. :-)
The real number is 0.007297352568( +/- 24) LOL!
Yeah and when they talk about a sports team or institution, the team name is plural automatically. As in "Arsenal WERE playing on a wet pitch today when they gained three point in the table... ". When would say "Duke is in tbe final four". Rather than "Duke are....
And, thanks for all the fish!
But this (from the article) math is based in addition and groupings.
Though what you were going over intrigues me. But I don;t think I'm talking out of place in saying it does not dispute my assertion towards the article.
The answer is.... 42.
Would you like to know "the question?"
We're going to get lynched, aren't we?
Do you know anything about the Hitchhiker movie coming out?
ooppppsss!!! you are correct sir. 0 thru 9... offset is zero.
I think you two just proved a Ramanujan congruence."
Yes, instead of "I only hit enter once, honest," we can say, "Sorry, must have been a Ramanujan congruence."
The article says nothing of importance.
Hehehe, yeah... we're bastards :)
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