Thoughts? If you haven't heard of the conjecture, it is actually quite easy to understand. It relates to topology, so read an intro guide on that, and then have a read of the question on the Clay Math site.
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Anonymous2006-08-16 19:56
I thought this happened a few months ago. Nevertheless, this is awesome.
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Anonymous2006-08-16 20:02
A much more recent news, and a much bigger one as far as I'm concerned, is that the Hodge and Tate conjectures seem to have been proven false. That's going to make a huge fuss at ICM.
It probably did. But I was alerted to it by an article in the paper. Very hard to hear news about mathematics unless there is some 'twist' to it - even for this story it was only mentioned because the one who proved it is a recluse or something
>>7
A well-informed opinion based on solid facts, I presume?
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Anonymous2006-08-17 9:39
This reminds me, is it just me, or are a lot of the papers posted to arxiv complete bullshit?
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Anonymous2006-08-17 12:49
I wouldn't say ``a lot''--a fair amount is complete bullshit, but for any mathematically proficient person, they are relatively easy to spot. Most articles posted to ArXiV are serious research papers, and the aforementioned paper is certainly one. Which is not to say it is faultless of course.
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Anonymous2006-08-17 15:30
I thought sponsorship was supposed to fiter the bullshit
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Anonymous2006-08-18 0:38
>>8
Well name one famous american mathematician. good luck lol.
and john nash isn' famous.
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Anonymous2006-08-18 2:48
Sternberg? He's famous in my circles anyway.
Although I can't think of anyone. Wiles?
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Anonymous2006-08-18 2:51
>>12
Wolfram? Thurston? Conway? Lorenz? Wiener? If you mean "famous among mathematicians" than any of these names should suffice. If you mean "famous to the general public," you're kidding yourself as there are no (living) famous mathematicians. (The possible exception being Nash, but he's famous because there was a movie made about his struggle with schizophrenia, not because he is a mathematician.)
Euler is my fav...although he is swedish...but still eulers buckling equation is a godsend for engineering. Made 2nd year research project a breeze.
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Anonymous2006-08-18 10:52
Not to sound nitpicky but Wiles is a Briton, not an American, and Euler is a Swiss, not a Swede.
Anyway, 14 is right, there is no such thing as a "famous" working mathematician, American or otherwise. Contemporary mathematics as a whole is completely unknown to the genereal public.
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Anonymous2006-08-18 14:50
>>17
I wouldn't be so sure. One time I went drinking straight after lectures and I asked this girl about the fuzzy torus, and she was like "haha, [p,q]=iQ^{ij}". I was so awed I didn't have time ask her for marriage before she left. I think these 'normal' people know much more than they let on.
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Anonymous2006-08-18 14:53
Well she didn't say "[p,q]=iQ^{ij}", what she said was "the lie bracket of incompatible operators on a fuzzy forus is eye times the a two-form". Just clearing things up
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Anonymous2006-08-18 20:23
Yeah, I tried pick-up lines like "Consider the category of mixed rational Hodge structures..." on some girls too! Not sure they belong to the "general public", though.