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Escher and Elliptic Curves

Posted by michael on from the fill-in-the-blanks dept.

melquiades writes "Mathematician Hendrik Lenstra was struck by the blank spot in M. C. Escher's Print Gallery . Why is the spot blank there, he wondered, and what should go in it? Although Escher, who had only a high-school mathematics background, drew the picture by brilliant and methodical intuition, the mathematical machinery underlying the image turned out to be elliptic curves (which come up in factorization, cryptography, and the proof of Fermat's Last Theorem). Lenstra and his colleagues were able to generate several breathtaking possible completions for the missing space. Read the story at the ever-registration-required NYT."

7 of 198 comments (clear)

  1. 1st post by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    glad I'm too lazy to actually go to work on time!

  2. MOD PARENT DOWN by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    fucktards who post this shit should be shot

  3. Re:Anal Retentive by foofboy · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Your views intrigue me, and I wish to subscribe to your newsletter.

  4. Re:MOD PARENT DOWN - fuck that by meta_troller · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    it's called TROLLING - you fucking idiot. Do you think you have the guts to shoot a slashdot troll ?? Huh? ... didnt think so - you are a pansy arsed WindowsXP looser hiding in the toilets so you dont get beaten up - which unfortunately means that you get ASSREAMED by the local school faggots.

    So dont tell me you are going to shoot the trolls, unless you've got the balls left to do it... punk
    Trolling... Its not just a crapflood... its an ADVENTURE!!

  5. Re:suck an ass by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic
    t.c was found dead in its Maine home...

    It was taken down by the hosting company because it was using too many resources which were being supplied for free. Then they needed to use it for paying work, so bye bye t.c

    No idea on what'll be happening to it in the long term, but for the immediate future txr is not planning to put it back up - and he has no internet access for the next couple of weeks either.

    --gazbo

  6. Re:Wish I could do that... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    "Im worth hiring"
    and your a twat!

    Forget all societal measures of your worth - they mean nothing.

    Including, apparently, punctuation and spelling. ;)
    (or would that be grammar?)

  7. Godel, Escher, Bach by kirkb · · Score: 2, Offtopic

    Wow, I can't beleive that no slashdotter has mentioned Douglas Hofstadter's excellent book "Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid"

    The book is over 20 years old and still a must-read for anyone who is interested in CS and/or art and/or music. It's fun, funny, and will make your brain hurt.

    Grab it at your favorite book store|website.

    --
    Slashdot: come for the pedantry, stay for the condescension.