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/sci/ - Science & Math

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4230272 No.4230272 [Reply] [Original]

I understand Fermat's last theorem. I dont understand Andrew Wiles' proof.

Shouldn't proofs be elegant, simple, and easy to understand?

>> No.4230347

He proved something no one else in the history of the world has ever been able to prove. Many of the greatest mathematicians of all time have tried and failed. Just because it isn't as easy to understand as you'd like doesn't mean it isn't how a proof "should" be written.

Give it some time. Maybe eventually someone will make it more elegant.

>> No.4230361

>>4230272
> Shouldn't proofs be elegant, simple, and easy to understand?
Yes. Hopefully someone out there is still trying.

>> No.4230399

>Shouldn't proofs be elegant, simple, and easy to understand?

Proofs should always be elegant. They can only be simple when the theorem itself is. "Easy to understand" is a relative and meaningless term. Anything is easy to understand if you are sufficiently intelligent. A proof that is impossible for the average person to follow may be crystal clear to an experienced mathematician.

The only requirement for a proof is that it can derive the theorem from the axioms. It doesn't really matter how many turns it takes along the way as long as it gets to the destination.

>> No.4230412

>>4230399
Well, people do often try to come up with cleaner and more concise proofs for things that have already been proven (although nobody really bothers for the more esoteric results, I suppose).

>> No.4230693

Wait for a number of similar proofs to appear and then for a more general theory to develop. Future ages will probably have a simple and elegant proof.

You can either work toward making that state of affairs a reality or complain idly that we aren't living in a utopia of omniscient philosopher kings.

>> No.4230707
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4230707

I just watched a documentary on this the other day. It was really off putting, honestly. The whole secretive nature of wiles and not collaborating with his peers on the problem was full of fail.

I'm proud of Grigori Perelman for telling this tight ass elitist math fags to fuck off. Really? Really? You won't even tell people you are working on a problem (for fucking 7 years) because you're afraid they'll find the answer before you? Why are you even doing math you cock sucking faggot.

>> No.4230732

>>4230707
I could see myself working on things without telling people, sometimes problems are fun to play with. If I was experimenting on something I didn't think I would make genuine progress on, I probably wouldn't talk about it because I wouldn't want to be asked about endeavors I expect to end with failure.

>> No.4230750

>>4230707
That's pretty common in math, you know.

>> No.4230762

>>4230728
>>4230707
I've found that even when I'm totally correct, I can mislead others if they aren't prepared to understand what I have to say or if I'm not prepared to explain myself clearly and completely.

Sometimes naive "cooperation" can be a clusterfuck. Why do you suppose that Gauss' motto was "pauca sed matura"? It's hard to ascribe silence to jealously or fear in his case.

>> No.4233278

light is waves, sound is waves
both are made of water, you cant argue that

>> No.4233306
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4233306

is 4chan broken or something? this thread is from yesterday and had twice as many replies.

>> No.4233315

>>4233306
Every post is a repost of a repost of a repost.