/sci/ - Science & Math

If no human can check a proof of a theorem, does it really count as mathematics? That's the intriguing question raised by the latest computer-assisted proof. It is as large as the entire content of Wikipedia, making it unlikely that will ever be checked by a human being.

"It might be that somehow we have hit statements which are essentially non-human mathematics," says Alexei Lisitsa of the University of Liverpool, UK, who came up with the proof together with colleague Boris Konev.

The proof is a significant step towards solving a long-standing puzzle known as the Erdős discrepancy problem. It was proposed in the 1930s by the Hungarian mathematician Paul Erdős, who offered $500 for its solution.

Imagine a random, infinite sequence of numbers containing nothing but +1s and -1s. Erdos was fascinated by the extent to which such sequences contain internal patterns. One way to measure that is to cut the infinite sequence off at a certain point, and then create finite sub-sequences within that part of the sequence, such as considering only every third number or every fourth.

Adding up the numbers in a sub-sequence gives a figure called the discrepancy, which acts as a measure of the structure of the sub-sequence and in turn the infinite sequence, as compared with a uniform ideal.

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn25068-wikipediasize-maths-proof-too-big-for-humans-to-check.html

So… looks like pure math is gonna be another victim of CS.

>Probability Thread

So, what is YOUR Erdos number?

In your mind what constitutes genius, the people with the highest analytical intelligence? (IQ)

Is genius combination of analytical and creative intelligence?

Does a person have to achieve something profound before they can be called a genius?

It seems like these days anyone can be called a genius if you have an IQ over 160.

ps. IQ doesn't matter insecure idiots please stay out of the thread it's not related to the question. Pretend IQ is an accurate metric for analytical aptitude.

I have Erdos number 3.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erd%C5%91s_number

My Computer Science teacher (who is an idiot, btw) is the son of N G. de Bruijn.
http://www.win.tue.nl/~wsdwnb/

My science teacher inspired N.G de Bruijn (who is NOT an idiot) to write about what is now called the "de Bruijn theorem"

(http://books.google.nl/books?id=DvX90EKMxGwC&pg=PA4&lpg=PA4&dq=%22F.+W.+de+Bruijn%22&am
p;source=bl&ots=O5rhDdLP0t&sig=mn05pztEhhG4NHPdxTai_L5jm00&hl=nl&ei=WJgrTOy1Bc_GOKSi
4bID&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=7&ved=0CC0Q6AEwBg#v=onepage&q=%22F
.%20W.%20de%20Bruijn%22&f=false)


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Bruijn's_theorem
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicolaas_Govert_de_Bruijn

N.G de Brijn worked with Erdos on several ocassions.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Bruijn%E2%80%93Erd%C5%91s_theorem_(graph_theory)

Oh, and Noam Chomsky has an Erdos number of 4

Is this awesome Y/N?

inb4 you never published a paper with your computer science teacher