Swedish Student Partly Solves 16th Hilbert Problem

An anonymous reader writes "Swedish media report that 22-year-old Elin Oxenhielm, a student at Stockholm University, has solved a chunk of one of the major problems posed to 20th century mathematics, Hilbert's 16th problem. Norwegian Aftenposten has an English version of the reports."

Comments

Where I went to school

[Anonymous Coward]

You solved the whole thing or you got an F.

Re:Where I went to school

[Anonymous Coward]

She put what in the who where?

Re:Where I went to school

[Anonymous Coward]

Where I went to school you got full credit just for completing your homework regardless of incorrect answers. Gotta love our public education system.

Re:Where I went to school

[Anonymous Coward]

Where *I* went to school, you solved the whole thing and got F(x).

Explanation: F(x) is the indefinite integral of f(x) if and only if d[F(x)]/dy == f(x).

Re:Where I went to school

[Anonymous Coward]

you didn't go to Ga Tech did you?

Re:Where I went to school

[Anonymous Coward]

You got an F??? You lucky bastid!!! Where I went to school if you didn't solve it you got your nuts chopped off and fed to you through a straw.

Re:Where I went to school

[Anonymous Coward]

what did yours taste like?

It's funny that college kids....

[Qweezle]

....are always the ones to solve the major problems, and always, by accident it seems. Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Steve Wozniak, my favorite computer college "accidents" to cite, but there are many more, such as, for example, the kids in Japan who thought they solved ?(but unconfirmed).

Re:It's funny that college kids....

[anaphora]

Isaac Newton came up with Principia and Calculus when he was offered 18 months with paid room and board on a farm. The college kids are solving mundane shit. The only reason it happens is because they don't have to get JOBS. (-1 Flamebait thanks to moderators who worked to put themselves through school)

Re:It's funny that college kids....

[Carnildo]

College students are the ones who tend to have the time for it, just like college students are often the major contributers to open-source projects.

Re:It's funny that college kids....

[leviramsey]

In this case the theory that it's to get chicks can probably be ruled out, as:

• It's a chick who solved it
• Even if she is a lesbian, I doubt there's a single hetero- or homosexual female on this earth that will sleep with someone because they solved a math problem.

Re:It's funny that college kids....

[Anonymous Coward]

I dunno, did you look at her?

Re:It's funny that college kids....

[SlashdotLemming]

....are always the ones to solve the major problems

Proof?
If a 45 year old college professor solved it, would this be news?

Kinda like the pessimist saying that he always gets stuck in the long lines. He just doesn't note the times he's in the short line.
Actually not at all like that, but you get the point.

Re:It's funny that college kids....

[badasscat]

....are always the ones to solve the major problems

Proof?
If a 45 year old college professor solved it, would this be news?

I think it's pretty well-known that among mathematicians, the older you get, the less likely you are to do anything really important. In other words it's not really "funny" that a college kid would solve this; it's pretty much the norm.

There's a PBS documentary about John Nash that I recently saw where this is talked about a bit; the commentators liken mathematicians to ballerinas, and Nash himself said he felt his best years were behind him at age 30 (and not because of his mental illness - in fact, his mental illness may have in part been due to the stress he was feeling). It's on DVD if you want to look for it - A Brilliant Madness was the title, I believe.

In fact, you're in luck - I just Google'd it for you and there's a web site here that includes a transcript of the program.

Re:It's funny that college kids....

[orthogonal]

It's a chick who solved it

Math chicks always get me hot. And she is one hot math chick.

I'd love to estimate the area under her curves.

Re:It's funny that college kids....

[Nate Fox]

I doubt there's a single hetero- or homosexual female on this earth that will sleep with someone because they solved a math problem.

you underestimate the loneliness of the slashdot crowd

Re:It's funny that college kids....

[Anonymous Coward]

....are always the ones to solve the major problems, and always, by accident it seems. Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Steve Wozniak,

What? They didn't solve any unsolved problems. They just made a lot of money.

Re:It's funny that college kids....

[guinan]

Even if she is a lesbian, I doubt there's a single hetero- or homosexual female on this earth that will sleep with someone because they solved a math problem.

You don't think Erdos is dreamy, then I take it?

Re:It's funny that college kids....

[GMFTatsujin]

Oh, I dunno... Real nerds know that nothing is the world is sexier than a woman who is smarter than they are. First, we want to crib off their trig homework, then make wild, passionate love to them until she reluctantly asks if we can stop -- because Battlestar Galactica is coming on.

Thanks, Ernie Cline.

No, seriously... Pictures, anyone?
GMFTatsujin

Re:It's funny that college kids....

[lonb]

You gotta love a nerdy chick who shows some hip (I see skin, I see skin!)

Re:It's funny that college kids....

[Trejkaz]

Or the volume, in this case. ;-)

Re:It's funny that college kids....

[freeweed]

To hell with estimating, I'd rather have a firm grasp on the number.

Re:It's funny that college kids....

[Lovepump]

I believe it'll remain imaginary for you...

Re:It's funny that college kids....

[gorilla]

This is also true for physicics, eg Einstien was 26 when he published the special theory of relativity, and Hawking was 28 when he published his work on the big bang and 32 when he published his work on black holes and Hawking radiation. Probably other similar cerebal fields probably have similar patterns.

Re:It's funny that college kids....

[pbox]

Well (after being through myself) I tend to disagree with your oversimplification (even if there is a tiny teeny-weeny truth in you assesment):

1. It was her job. (she is a grad student and a teaching asst, therefore has a JOB even if it way underpaid).

2. Just the other day /. had an article about how most researchers have major breakthroughs before their 30s. That article offered several ideas why is that, like (simplified): need for show-off, extra time because of lack of families, etc...

3. She is not a "college kid" as you put it, but a PhD student (she does not fit into the same drug-imbibing, all-night partying picture)

Re:It's funny that college kids....

[hurtstotouchfire]

Fermat had a full-time job as a respected jurist, and he was an extremely prolific mathematician.

However, Andrew Wiles, who solved Fermat's last theorem, spent seven years in his attic to do so.

I guess broad generalizations don't work so well, eh?

Re:It's funny that college kids....

[Sloppy]

What's so sexy about a woman who can't figure out how to use Tivo?

Re:It's funny that college kids....

[Cajun Hell]

There's nothing sexy about a woman who can't figure out how to use Tivo.

Re:It's funny that college kids....

[Uma Thurman]

Forget estimation, I'll give an exact answer.

Re:It's funny that college kids....

[hurtstotouchfire]

I'm bi and female and I'd definitly sleep with her because she partially solved that problem.

I'd probably want her to explain it to me first too. Geek fetishes do exist. And they probably hang out on /.

Re:It's funny that college kids....

[Listen Up]

That is not generally true. Most problems that get solved are by hundreds of hours of hard work and dedication. Age is not a determining factor in a person's ability to dream and have the talent, work ethic, and determination to follow through with those dreams.

Definitely, at times, some problems are solved by accident or as a side result to another, even unrelated, problem. Those are just as meaningful as the ones solved over a lifetime a work.

Re:It's funny that college kids....

[Anonymous Coward]

I'll vouch for that, anonymously of course.

Re:It's funny that college kids....

[orthogonal]

To hell with estimating, I'd rather have a firm grasp on the number.

There's a reason I said estimate: it's more "hands on", and to ensure accuracy, I'd have to repeat the process many times.

Many, many times. All in the interest of science, of course. Hubba, hubba.

Re:It's funny that college kids....

[Anonymous Coward]

You overestimate the number of females in the slashdot crowd

Re:It's funny that college kids....

[eric76]

Just what major unsolved problems did Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, and Steve Wozniak solve?

Re:It's funny that college kids....

[Tackhead]

> There's a reason I said estimate: it's more "hands on", and to ensure accuracy, I'd have to repeat the process many times.
>
>Many, many times. All in the interest of science, of course. Hubba, hubba.

You're not a mathematician, you're a physicist. Not as bad as an engineer, mind you.

The picture of Elig proves that there exists at least one female mathematician for whom "I'd hit it". As a mathematician, that's good enough!

Re:It's funny that college kids....

[Tackhead]

> The picture of Elig proves that there exists at least one female mathematician for whom "I'd hit it". As a mathematician, that's good enough!

It does not, however, prove that I'd get her name right. Sorry, Elin. But I'd still hit it. *G*

Re:It's funny that college kids....

[scavenger87]

Just one good example of the way men cannot think of smart women without their dick interferring your resolution. Maybe it could be for equality if she were 42 year old and looked like one middle-aged woman. All in all, she is damn cute and 99.9 per cent of /.tters are the opposite of her.

Re:It's funny that college kids....

[tchdab1]

Yes. Broad generalizations never work well.

Re:It's funny that college kids....

[Tony-A]

Maybe apocryphal, but one of my math profs told about a final exam. Six unsolved problems. Got something like three answers and a couple of partials from the class.
The profs quip: "Amazing what graduate students can do under pressure".

Re:It's funny that college kids....

[identity0]

Hi, I'm Elin. Let's see if you can figure this out...

Imagine that my bra size is 30B, dress size is 8, and pants size is 30, and I'm changing clothes on a train going from New York to Stockholm at 80 mph that leaves at 8pm local time. Meanwhile another train going the oppisite direction at 70mph leaves Stockholm at 6am local time the same day with you inside. If my boyfriend who is infinitely hotter and smarter than you leaves Chicago on a flight to Stockholm at 7pm local time and takes 10 hours to get there, what is the area of naked skin under my clothes, and what are your chances of ever getting sight of it as our trains pass one another, taking me to heaven in the arms of Jean-Claude and you to hell in the bowels of Slashdot trolls? Show your work with your answer.

(Yes, that's a joke, I'm not Elin) :)

Re:It's funny that college kids....

[lurwas]

...it's also funny that you call a 22 year old woman a kid...

Re:It's funny that college kids....

[Anonymous Coward]

Close, judging by the picture she's a full C cup, possibly little D. I'd say in US measurements the bandsize would be closer to 34/6. Either way, I'm more impressed by her mind. (Strange that the problem is written in english though...)

Re:It's funny that college kids....

[Vaevictis666]

There's also a feature film based on his life, called A Beautiful Mind - quite a good show too.

Re:It's funny that college kids....

[fucksl4shd0t]

What's so sexy about a woman who can't figure out how to use Tivo?

Other than the fact that she couldn't read the manual with her head stuffed in her pillow?

Re:It's funny that college kids....

[Anonymous Coward]

3. She is not a "college kid" as you put it, but a PhD student (she does not fit into the same drug-imbibing, all-night partying picture)

Uh...I fit into that picture when I was a PhD student. Mind you, I dropped out before I got the PhD, so I guess I might not count.

Re:It's funny that college kids....

[teutonic_leech]

Sorry guys, but you've GOT to get out of the house more often!! LOL
I concede that she's not a total dog and does have some curves, but she's not even close to hot on my scale.
Hey, but I'd do her just at the remote chance that it would raise my own IQ by a few nodges.
Here's my own equation:

moreIQ = doMeNow(hornygeek + curvy smart chick);

Re:It's funny that college kids....

[coopaq]

Seems to be a lot of Hermathrodites on the is board.

...sorry

Re:It's funny that college kids....

[danny256]

You're an idiot.

Re:It's funny that college kids....

[mcrbids]

Nash himself said he felt his best years were behind him at age 30

That's very typical. As people get older, they get less creative. As people get married, they become unimaginative dolts.

Of course, I'm happily married, and I'd like to think that I still have *some* creative spark, but then, I *am* here, at 6:33 PM on Turkey-Day eve, reading slashdot...

Maybe they're right, after all?

Re:It's funny that college kids....

[Anonymous Coward]

clapclapclapclapclapclap
mod parent up

Re:It's funny that college kids....

[Anonymous Coward]

Dude, a 30B is a long long way from a 34C or a 36C... volume by cup size is relative to band size.

i.e. if someone wears a 36B then the actual volume of their breasts will be about the same as someone with a 34C, but the other person has a smaller chest.

Re:It's funny that college kids....

[autopr0n]

(Yes, that's a joke, I'm not Elin) :)

Really? I never would have guessed!

Re:It's funny that college kids....

[Carmelia]

I can assure you she has no more than a B

Re:It's funny that college kids....

[Anonymous Coward]

if someone wears a 36B then the actual volume of their breasts will be about the same as someone with a 34C

Wrong!
someone with a 34C has much bigger breasts than a 36B, ie 36B means a fat flat
34C means a full breasted manequin
Hope this helps

Re:It's funny that college kids....

[l3prador]

Whoa, deja vu: #7574336 #7574399

Re:It's funny that college kids....

[Mantorp]

this thread is making me feel old, sad and dumb :(

Re:It's funny that college kids....

[Anonymous Coward]

I think I stopped being able to answer the question after seeing your measurements...

Re:It's funny that college kids....

[Stackster]

...I'm changing clothes on a train going from New York to Stockholm at 80 mph that leaves at 8pm local time.

I would sure like to see a _train_ from New York to Stockholm. Even better would be seing someone trying to put clothes on it.

Re:It's funny that college kids....

[Insipid Trunculance]

Maybe its also because they are the ones whose thinking has also not been conditioned(not to the full extent anyway) and hence they dont follow the well beaten path and make the mistakes made already.

Re:It's funny that college kids....

[Anonymous Coward]

More experienced mathematicians will use all of the tricks and techniques that they have picked up over the years. The potential for new and creative thought is, in my opinion, greater before you pick up all of those tricks and techniques. I have witnessed undergraduate students come up with proofs that would never occur to more experienced mathematicians, simply becuase the experienced mathematician would apply the standard technique almost without thinking.

Re:It's funny that college kids....

[lars_stefan_axelsson]

College students are the ones who tend to have the time for it, just like college students are often the major contributers to open-source projects.

Well, almost (depending on who you define 'it', granted). PhD students also have time, but if you were to go to your supervisor and exclaim you want to work on 'famous' problems you'd be discouraged, and rightly so. The thing with being a PhD student is that you're supposed to do work that will lead to publications, and spending time on something that's been researched for a hundred years isn't likely to.

For an undergrad though, the situation is different. If you were to say to the same supervisor that you'd like to work on a famous problems they'd be all for it. They wouldn't think you'd make any progress on the solution but it'd be a great learning experience, and since your survival is guaranteed by other means, it's quite OK to fail.

Compare Turing if you will, who as an undergrad proved the law of large numbers (if memory serves). That had already been proven twenty years earlier, but Turing didn't know about that result. Hence his professors were quite impressed with his results, and as a result admitted him for higher studies. As a modern day PhD student that would have been a failure, even though it's a great success as an undergrad.

Re:It's funny that college kids....

[zippe]

I somewhat agree but Euler seems to fall under quite the contrary (published great works up until his death)

Re:It's funny that college kids....

[Kardamon]

No, Einstein was 26 when he copied the special theory of relativity from Jules Henri Poincare, who himself was 50 when he presented the principle of relativity in 1904.

Re:It's funny that college kids....

[Goth Biker Babe]

I'm imaging that you're fourteen years old, spotty, have never had a girlfriend in your life and have a very small penis.

Re:It's funny that college kids....

[lars_stefan_axelsson]

1. It was her job. (she is a grad student and a teaching asst, therefore has a JOB even if it way underpaid).

3. She is not a "college kid" as you put it, but a PhD student (she does not fit into the same drug-imbibing, all-night partying picture)

Well, you're actually technically wrong on both counts. First according to the dept's webpage she's not a PhD student, she's a teaching assistant (amanuens). And thus her job is actually to teach, not to do research.

No doubt she was given the amanuensis position in anticipation of becoming a PhD student, but since Sweden changed their PhD acceptance criteria, departments have become wary of accepting students (there aren't as many positions available these days). (My own department for example had 120 applicants for four positions this year, you basically had to have published papers to even get in as a PhD student). Hence departments like to pull stunts such as these, i.e. hiring someone beforehand as e.g. a TA (or similar) to see if they can do the work before comitting to taking them on. I'd say she passed... :-)

As to why students (as in undergrads) have come up with breakthroughs as of late my own theory is that they are the ones that can actually work on these problems, having nothing to lose. As a PhD student that's not a smart thing to do, see my other post on this topic.

Re:It's funny that college kids....

[pbox]

Thanks for the insight. I wasn't aware of the Swedish PhD position scarcity. Here in the US, the TA jobs are usually filled with PhD students, and if there is any left those are filled with Master's stundets. I have yet to see a TA that is not a student at the same time.

I agree with you on the other count as well, unexperienced students walk off the beaten path (thankfully).

I would, however, disagree with you on PhD students not taking up hard problems. It is true that it is unsafe (ie. might never achieve closure, where closure is actually the diploma), but I would say that is the T.R.U.E.(tm) PhD. Out of my quite large group of PhD students (15-20) I only know one who really went into an unsafe territory (Math PhD), and not coincidentally he is the one still a student after 5 years (having suffered multiple setbacks), while all others have finished. However there is really no way of distinguishing one PhD from another based on this criteria (since there is only few who can even understand the thesises). I guess if you want the paper for the paper's sake, go for it, but if you have a calling, that will take time.

Re:It's funny that college kids....

[Anonymous Coward]

A smaller differential between the chest and total bust circumference does not preclude the breast volume being the same, sure, it'll "stick out" less but the total volume of the breasts is roughly the same.

I think I fucking know...

Re:It's funny that college kids....

[eric76]

I agree they did some impressive things, but to the best of my knowledge, none of them have ever solved any unsolved problems such as the student in the article.

But I could be wrong.

So just what unsolved problems did they solve?

Re:It's funny that college kids....

[identity0]

To be fair, she *is* a math geek, and there have been times when the subject of a story here has posted a comment his/her self... Didn't want people to get the impression she was trolling Slashdot after a hard day of math problems :)

Re:It's funny that college kids....

[Anonymous Coward]

Broadly speaking, no.

Re:It's funny that college kids....

[lars_stefan_axelsson]

I would, however, disagree with you on PhD students not taking up hard problems.

Well, I canot remember if I said it that strongly, but in either case I didn't mean that in the absolute. PhD students don't tend to work on hard problems because it's not the smart thing to do, you'd be rightly discouraged. Your own anecdote even corroborates that. Had he choosen a different problem he'd be out of there already, on to bigger and better things.

I'm not saying that's necessarily a good thing, someone has to tackle the difficult stuff otherwise we'll never make any progress. I'm just pointing out that even though many belive that PhD students are the ones doing this, that's not really true. They're few and far between, and that's not surprising, since doing that leads to a failed PhD more often than not, and that's a shame on good people when it happens. It's the people at the very beginning (i.e. before they start their PhD work), or at the very end (i.e. after their retirement, if you can talk of such in academia) that have time to spend on the long odds investigations. Didn't Einstein spend the last 15 years of his life chasing after a unification of his earlier theories? He never came even close, but at that point that didn't matter.

Re:It's funny that college kids....

[Mentally_Overclocked]

But if they are imaginary, they can be approached in any direction as long as they are analytic.

Re:It's funny that college kids....

[Anonymous Coward]

Who the fuck are you?

Wow he's good

[Rosco P. Coltrane]

I'm still trying to figure out the 15th Dilbert cartoon ...

Re:Wow he's good

[Flarenet]

I know you intended to be funny, but if you had loaded the article, you would have noticed that "he" is actually a "she" (and a fairly good looking she at that. :) But this is slashdot, and reading the article should not get in the way of a good joke!

Re:Wow he's good

[Anonymous Coward]

It's a she, and she's cute ;)

(heh, that ought to get people to rta)

Re:Wow he's good

[Anonymous Coward]

>>and a fairly good looking she at that

And what color is the sky on your planet?

Re:Wow he's good

[Flarenet]

At the moment? Dark grey. It's a cloudy day. Normally it's a bright "sky" blue though. Why? What's the colour of the sky on your planet? Does everyone have the exact same opinions on attractiveness on your planet? I hope not, that would lead to a dull environment.

Re:Wow he's good

[netsharc]

Come on, she looks pretty hot, and we already know she's got a brain.. I'm in love..

She's swedish as well.

Re:Wow he's good

[Mac Degger]

Looking at the the number of posters considering her hot, and then having a look at her picture, it just shows how low the standards here at /. have sunk.

Of course, I'd do her, but I've been known to make bigger mistakes than that ;)

Re:Wow he's good

[4bz]

>...you would have noticed that "he" is actually a "she" (and >a fairly good looking she at that. :) But this is slashdot, and the standard for "fairly good looking" is significantly lower.

Re:Wow he's good

[teutonic_leech]

Sorry guys, but you've GOT to get out of the house more often!! LOL
I concede that she's not a total dog and does have some curves, but she's not even close to hot on my scale.
Hey, but I'd do her just at the remote chance that it would raise my own IQ by a few nodges. Here's my own equation:

moreIQ = doMeNow(hornygeek + curvy smart chick);

Re:Wow he's good

[Anonymous Coward]

but she's not even close to hot on my scale.

You like them hot with syphilitic fever, uh?

Re:Wow he's good

[Anonymous Coward]

reading the article should not get in the way of a good joke

Hell, reading the article doesn't get in the way of +5, Insightful half the time.

Re:Wow he's good

[brysnot]

ummm... no wonder linux apps aren't very pretty. you all don't have a clue what is good looking.

Re:Wow he's good

[MenAtWork]

verified! and found true ...

naah! i checked the page just to verify the statement no other motive - promise :-|

though have to admit looks hot chick ;0)
bravo the days of engineers r getting better .. looks like god finally noticed !!! hurrah

Re:Wow he's good

[Anonymous Coward]

"(and a fairly good looking she at that. :) "

I realize everyone has their own standards. That said...

Get out more.

Please.

Re:Wow he's good

[Flarenet]

Thanks, but I think most people are missing the qualifier that was placed before "good looking". Namely the word "fairly". This word has many definitions as seen at Merriam-Webster Online.) The definition I had in mind was number 6:

6 : RATHER 5, MODERATELY <a fairly easy job>

I believe most people would agree that she is moderately good looking. Perhaps not "hot" (whatever that means) by your standards, but nice enough anyway.

But like you said, everyone's standards (and preferences) are different.

Re:Wow he's good

[Dick Faze]

and a fairly good looking she at that

Not sure what school you go to, but I believe this statement is true only for the subset of women who can successfully answer the question "Do you know the name of a Prussian mathematician?"

I remember

[GregThePaladin]

this one story. Some college kid showed up late for class, and found a problem up on the board. Thinking it was homework, he went home and solved it. Turns out it was supposed to be unsolveable.

Just somethingto think of.

Re:I remember

[no_nicks_available]

That never happened. click

Re:I remember

[ankit]

Read the complete page on the link you've posted.

As far as we know, this legend is based upon a true incident.

Re:I remember

[lrucker]

The link says "As far as we know, this legend is based upon a true incident"

Re:I remember

[mc_barron]

Yeah, and he had this group of construction worker buddies he would hand out in bars with. He had a great mind, but he was abused as a child and couldn't express intimate emotions. He solves this problem on the board, and the next hting he knows the math professor really wants him to work on problems together. Then Robin Williams shows up and...oh, wait a minute.

Re:I remember

[Anonymous Coward]

ok, I followed your link, except it says the story is essentially true.

Re:I remember

[Hoi Polloi]

Yah, I was late for a lot of my classes

Re:I remember

[red floyd]

I think that story is an urban legend, but if you've ever used Huffman coded data, Huffman himself used to tell this story:

He was flunking information theory at MIT, and his prof told him he'd pass if he solved mimimal redundancy coding. So he did, and invented Huffman codes.

<HUMOR>
Of course, as his students at UCSC, we used to believe that his roommate solved it, and Huffman killed him for the solution (and hid the body)...
</HUMOR>

Re:I remember

[larry bagina]

Of course, as his students at UCSC, we used to believe that his roommate solved it, and Huffman killed him for the solution (and hid the body)...

There's also the urban legend about getting straight A's for the semester if your college roommate dies.

Re:I remember

[CSharpMinor]

Click.

Legend: A student arrives late to math class and finds two problems written on the chalkboard. Assuming they're homework problems, he jots them down in his notebook and works on the equations over the next few days before turning his solutions in to the instructor. Several weeks later, the professor turns up at the student's door with the student's work written up for publication. The two problems were not a homework assignment; they were problems previously thought to be unsolvable which the instructor had used as examples in his lecture that day.

Origins: This has to be one of the ultimate academic wish-fulfillment fantasies: a student not only proves himself the smartest one in his class, but also bests his professor and every other scholar in his field of study.

As far as we know, this legend is based upon a true incident. (That is, a version of this legend that antedates a known true incident has not yet been discovered). George B. Dantzig, then a graduate student at the University of California, Berkeley, arrived late for a statistics class one day and found two problems written on the board. Not knowing they were examples of "unsolvable" statistics problems, he solved them as a homework assignment. Dantzig, who later became a staff mathematician at Stanford University, recounted his solving two "unsolvable" problems in a 1986 interview for College Mathematics Journal, and his solutions to the two problems can be found in the journal articles listed in the Sources section below.

Re:I remember

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah, I found out that it was an urban legend the hard way. Glad no one has found the body as of yet.

Re:I remember

[Docrates]

Not He.... She!. RTFA.

Re:I remember

[Anonymous Coward]

Not referring to the story, but the parent's anecdote. RTFC

Re:I remember

[Phil John]

Actually, according to snopes (the link is in another post in this thread) the opening premise of the plot for good will hunting was based on the (true) incident described by the parent poster.

Re:I remember

[bugbread]

Snopes is your friend

Brief summary: believed to be true, regarding George B. Dantzig.

Re:I remember

[Anonymous Coward]

dumbass - when they find the body and declare him/her dead, you'll get your A's...

otherwise, you need to wait 7 years, and if you haven't graduated by then, you've probably dropped out...

Re:I remember

[Threni]

Odd...Snopes normally says `Status: True` when it's that conclusive. What's the problem?

Re:I remember

[Uber Banker]

No there isn't. You just posted that to ride on the crest of the wave. You are a sad sad troll.

Re:I remember

[Anonymous Coward]

what does she win when she is solving a historic complex problem? nothing by stupid!

A student always is worse than a professor :(

Practice the sex with me and we make the full solution of the 16th problem.

open4free

Re:I remember

[Joey7F]

Probably because they aren't there to distract you from studying :P

--Joey

Re:I remember

[fucksl4shd0t]

He solves this problem on the board, and the next hting he knows the math professor really wants him to work on problems together. Then Robin Williams shows up and...oh, wait a minute.

I don't want her if she's gonna wind up biting my dick off...

Re:I remember

[Guppy06]

"This has to be one of the ultimate academic wish-fulfillment fantasies"

It has to be pure fantasy. In the real world, the math prof would quietly take credit for the solution himself.

Re:I remember

[Bullet-Dodger]

Yes, there is.

Re:I remember

[Anonymous Coward]

That's not quite a fantasy. My brother wrote a solar system simulator while in his early teens in the 80s. The teacher claimed it was his and sold it.

Re:I remember

[Anonymous Coward]

"As far as we know, this legend is based upon a true incident."
Reading TFA?

Re:I remember

[Anonymous Coward]

Lots of interesting facts

"Happy Birthday" is still copyrighted
http://www.snopes.com/music/songs/bir thday.htm

From the page:

"The Chicago-based music publisher Clayton F. Summy Company, working with Jessica Hill, published and copyrighted "Happy Birthday" in 1935. Under the laws in effect at the time, the Hills' copyright would have expired after one 28-year term and a renewal of similar length, falling into public domain by 1991. However, the Copyright Act of 1976 extended the term of copyright protection to 75 years from date of publication, and the Copyright Term Extension Act of 1998 added another 20 years, so under current law the copyright protection of "Happy Birthday" will remain intact until at least 2030. "

Re:I remember

[kjd]

Yeah. You might notice that smaller "Mom 'n' Pop" restaurants will sing Happy Birthday to celebrate a customer's birthday (as they do not know of the copyright), but large chains will often come up with their own silly birthday song to avoid legal/financial issues.

Re:I remember

[Anonymous Coward]

It's nice to be able to change history simply by using a non-standard compression scheme. :)

Re:I remember

[Anonymous Coward]

It's a true story. As my daughter's 8th grade geometry instructor, named Dr. Mankey, tells the story, it happened to himself. The student was a 13 year old math prodigy student of his (an early high school grad. who was in his 1st college math class, at I forgot which college or university. Somewhere in Calif, I believe. Anyway, it happened just like that; The kid thought that this "unsolveable" problem was part of his assigned homework, & "went home & solved the darn thing." JDHolsinger

I'd hit it!

[dewie]

Uh, sorry. Thought I was on fark for a second.

Seriosly though, a hot Swedish mathematician? That's so much like my dreams it's scary.

Re:I'd hit it!

[Rinikusu]

I've got spanking material for the night.

Seriously.

Hot *and* smart.

Happy Thanksgiving indeed.

Re:I'd hit it!

[avery]

Hmmm... precisely what I was thinking. The first thing that popped into my head when I read the article was "I'd hit it!" The rest of your post is also very true.

Re:I'd hit it!

[Gr33nNight]

Shes cute?!

/me furiously clicks on the article before it gets slashdotted.

Re:I'd hit it!

[Dutchmaan]

She's nerd cute bordering on normal cute...

I think that about sums it up.

Re:I'd hit it!

[Anonymous Coward]

The same picture taken from her homepage.

Re:I'd hit it!

[Anonymous Coward]

Man, its sweden, they have more servers than people there.

It's probably because the ice help to keep them cool or something :P

Re:I'd hit it!

[Dutchmaan]

Here you go... make a huge printout and place it on your sheets!

http://www.math.su.se/~elin/elinoxenhielm.jpg

Re:I'd hit it!

[Anonymous Coward]

Pfft you stupid americans would fuck anyone. That girl got such a big ass, she is seriously over-weight...

Personally, I prefer smaller asses and hard tits.

Re:I'd hit it!

[Anonymous Coward]

HAHAHAHA you got teh informativo. ur rite tho

Re:I'd hit it!

[Anonymous Coward]

You are WAAAAY too easily turned on my friend. Take a cold shower instead of a drumstick.

Re:I'd hit it!

[Anonymous Coward]

I would fuck a snake if I could find someone to hold it's head. But I would never fuck a French chick.

Re:I'd hit it!

[Anonymous Coward]

'mercans like da boo-tay. btw, French chicks ARE snakes.

Re:I'd hit it!

[SeederGOD]

mniam , high quality photo ... mmmm, now i like it

Re:I'd hit it!

[Anonymous Coward]

mm I m 2 be hitting this nowww!!

Re:I'd hit it!

[los furtive]

Bah, she ain't hot, she just shrinks her shirts in the laundry ;-)

Re:I'd hit it!

[Jugalator]

Wow! Look at all those sexy formulae! :-D

Re:I'd hit it!

[orthogonal]

Personally, I prefer smaller asses and hard tits.

There's a name for those: they're called "boys".

Re:I'd hit it!

[Anonymous Coward]

thanks, now i have some good jacking material for tonite.

Re:I'd hit it!

[lithis]

yeah, but look at her html...

Re:I'd hit it!

[Uma Thurman]

I'm prettier than her anyway.

Re:I'd hit it!

[Anonymous Coward]

I've got spanking material for the night.

Seriously.

Hot *and* smart.

Happy Thanksgiving indeed.

now if only she didn't speak English.
Dream girl INDEED!

Re:I'd hit it!

[Anonymous Coward]

Not even Laetitia Casta, or Virginie Ledoyen?

It's dangerous to make broad sweeping statements like that.

Except in this case, it's true, because clearly you will never fuck either of them.

Re:I'd hit it!

[mrtroy]

I would say shes smart AND hungry

They screwed up on the "h" words.

She didnt shrink her shirts, they are triple-X Large

Re:I'd hit it!

[SquadBoy]

Time to define terms. She is really cute and smart and that is very cool.

This is hot.

http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF -8 &oe=UTF-8&safe=off&q=victoria+silvstedt&sa=N&tab=w i

Re:I'd hit it!

[balloonhead]

High quality just means you can see her spots now. Big one on her left nostril. Eeww.

Re:I'd hit it!

[joshuac]

Fantastic, some crack-smoking genius modded this as being "insightful". I guess S/He/it must have always been wondering...

Re:I'd hit it!

[ifwm]

She's not even the hottest chick in her department Try http://www.math.su.se/~tanjab or http://www.math.su.se/~ottergren those two are hot. This chick is only doable.

Re:I'd hit it!

[ifwm]

Exactly

Re:I'd hit it!

[Joey7F]

I can't believe I posted in this thread! NOoo, I would have give you +1 Funny or insightful I am not sure which.

Seriously, I don't understand guys that want girl with no ass. "Oh no, you can't see her ribcage and she naturally great boobs and butt."

I can't be the only guy that would rather have a girl that is thick to a girl that is really skinny?

--Joey

Re:I'd hit it!

[fucksl4shd0t]

I can't be the only guy that would rather have a girl that is thick to a girl that is really skinny?

I'm with you, man. More cushion for the pushin'. Seriously, if a girl doesn't have any ass, and she's a great lay, what exactly am I supposed to grab onto? When I spank, I don't want to hit bone. And when she climbs up onto me, I want boobs in my face. You can't get that with no ass and hard tits. No way!

Re:I'd hit it!

[fucksl4shd0t]

No shit, dude. If I weren't married, I'd be moving to Sweden to find me a wife. Hot mathematician? All we get in the states are either big fat girls that can't get laid or shrewy skin-and-bones girls that start wrinkling when they're 14.

Re:I'd hit it!

[SiM97]

Speaking of hot maths chicks, Clio Cresswell was my Maths 1 tutor at Adelaide Uni a few years back. I remember thinking there probably wouldn't be too many hotter maths chicks getting around.

Re:I'd hit it!

[bytesmythe]

>> http://www.math.su.se/~ottergren

Ohhh... my.

/booking flight to Sweden

side note:
It's odd being able to understand part of the text on those sites, even though I don't know Swedish. (I love the similarities in Germanic languages.)

Re:I'd hit it!

[Anonymous Coward]

Hmm, she looks like the chick in the Apple "Switch" ads.

Re:I'd hit it!

[squaretorus]

Correct. Listen guys! Just because a chick shows a bit of midriff doesn't mean she's hot. Admittedly the young lady 'isn't bad' - but I feel I should point out that 'HOT' and 'HOTTER THAN ANYTHING I'LL EVER GET WITHIN A COUNTRY MILE OF' are two different things.

Maybe its time /. lowered the tone and opened a new catergory - BRAINS AND HOT OR BRAINS AND NOT

Re:I'd hit it!

[Anonymous Coward]

I can't be the only guy that would rather have a girl that is thick--

I doubt you have a choice. A girl would have to be very thick to want to go out with someone who spends his time discussing tits and arses on Slashdot.

Re:I'd hit it!

[Hannes Eriksson]

You call that hot? I can clearly see that you have not seen that many swedish mathematicians.

Re:I'd hit it!

[OzPixel]

Whew. I used to work in the Maths Dept. there, things have obviously improved since my day :->

David.

Re:I'd hit it!

[rssrss]

Seriosly[sic] though, a hot Swedish mathematician? That's so much like my dreams it's scary.

Sorry to burst your bubble, but that looks like a wedding ring on her left hand ring finger.

Re:SECKS

[mgoodman]

shes hot? man, us geeks must really have low standards. wait. i dont have standards that low. maybe im not a geek! woot! no...im probably just more out of touch with reality than most other geeks.

Heh

[NitsujTPU]

I hate to sound like a troll, but she's both smart AND cute. If she's looking for a cute american programmer...

Oh yeah, and the problem is cool too ;-)

Re:Heh

[Anonymous Coward]

That is the first thing I noticed that she was cute in a nerdy sort of way. I wonder if she wants to be rich now (porn style)?

Bet she knows howto operate a webcam all by herself.

Re:Heh

[DigiShaman]

Based on the photo alone. I would say she is engaged or even *gasp* married. Yup, when your single and on the prowl...the "ring finger" is the first thing you look at. Why bother wasting hers and your time?

Re:Heh

[Anonymous Coward]

only a waste of time if you think you don't have a chance... and being married isn't neccesarily a brick wall anymore.

Re:Heh

[curious.corn]

I've had friends visiting Sweden and all they had to say was: "man, these are weird people!" Compared to us italians they look much more apt to adveturous flirts and easy relationships, yet almost all of them get independent form their families very early but don't enter a 'single' phase; they just marry very early or make unofficial yet stable couples. This is totally opposite to italian customs: we mostly five off our parents for as much as we can, engaging in the most lascivious affaires and mosly dribbling all kind of responsibility until some father/brother decides enough is enough and we are driven to the altar at gunpoint...

Re:Heh

[SmackCrackandPot]

I was once told by my college neighbours that some girls wear wedding rings as a way to politely turn down unwanted advances. It doesn't hurt to ask :)

Re:Heh

[harlows_monkeys]

If she's looking for a cute american programmer...

Are you sure you'd want someone from a country where they can't tell the difference between a blackboard and a web page?

Re:Heh

[Anonymous Coward]

They aren't "taken" until they're dead

Re:Heh

[Anonymous Coward]

Don't they wear wedding rings on the right hand in Europe?

Re:Heh

[mjprobst]

Any woman who plays that little game (and there are many) is only ever going to be approached by the overconfident, disrespectful assmunches of the world, the very kind that doesn't respect the "fact" that she's taken, and yet will manage to bitch about it when she's dumped for some new novelty of the week. Such a woman is not worth my time or attention.

Re:Heh

[Anonymous Coward]

doesn't mean you can't nail her anyway.

Re:Heh

[Anonymous Coward]

But if I remember correctly from the time I spent in scandinavia, they wear their wedding rings on the other hand.

Re:Heh

[Craig3010]

I wouldn't want to marry her, I'd just want to fuck her.

Link for the lazy to her website

[Anonymous Coward]

Link

was it just me...

[mrsev]

... I read it first time as "Swedish Student Party"

Seemed to be an interesting image!!

Re:was it just me...

[Anonymous Coward]

I read it as "party" too

Looks Like She's Married

[handy_vandal]

Seriosly though, a hot Swedish mathematician? That's so much like my dreams it's scary.

I know what ya mean ... but in the picture it looks like she's wearing a wedding ring, so dream on ....

-kgj

Re:Looks Like She's Married

[TamMan2000]

I thought that they wore the wedding ring on the right hand in europe...

Anyone over there care to confirm (either way...)?

Re:Looks Like She's Married

[Troed]

No we don't.

Re:Looks Like She's Married

[mantera]

not only that... but it's like she's showing off the ring too!!

Re:Looks Like She's Married

[lokedhs]

Not in sweden. In eastern europe they do however, AFAIK.

Re:Looks Like She's Married

[jaf]

It's about half-half. At least here in Denmark. I wear mine on my right hand, other people claim it should be the left "because it's closer to the heart".. oh well..

Re:Looks Like She's Married

[Anonymous Coward]

You don't wear wedding rings on the right hand or you don't get married??

Re:Looks Like She's Married

[Anonymous Coward]

> not only that... but it's like she's showing off the ring too!!

Yeah, and it's like the writing on the blackboard is her boasting about her guy...how does it make you feel, huh? Angry, right? So angry you've just got to do SOMETHING...you're not going to let her get away with it, are you?

Re:Looks Like She's Married

[Camulus]

now that was funny. Wish I had some mod points.

Re:Looks Like She's Married

[Anonymous Coward]

Could be fake to avoid being hit on by the /. geeks.

Re:Looks Like She's Married

[Troed]

Well, I'm Swedish and I've never seen one wearing it on the right hand (my own engagement ring is on my left hand). I guess it can vary between countries in Europe, but you're the first one I've ever heard of actually wearing it on the right :) You learn something new each day.

(I was in Copenhagen today, I guess next time I'll have to look more at people's hands ;)

Re:Looks Like She's Married

[sk8king]

A friend of mine got married to a Columbian and she was surprised when he tried to put the ring on the left hand.

Re:Looks Like She's Married

[jaf]

I wore my engagement ring on my left hand, and my wedding right on the right..

Tja, sadan gor vi her i Kobenhavn nogle gange. :-)

Re:Looks Like She's Married

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm French and I wear my wedding ring on the left hand.

Then again you people are quite sad for thinking she is good looking enough to be bothered looking for a wedding ring on the picture :)

Slashdot announces breakthough

[Anonymous Coward]

in something only 10 slashdotters know anything about;

Re:Slashdot announces breakthough

[fishbowl]

"in something only 10 slashdotters know anything about"

Just because you aren't a Math or Physics major doesn't mean we aren't in here.

Re:Slashdot announces breakthough

[Anonymous Coward]

something only 10 slashdotters know anything about

Boy, it doesn't get more niche than that!

Re:Slashdot announces breakthough

[Matimus]

It's a differential calculus boundry value problem. Required course work for most engineers, and a good deal of computer scientists. Although the courses that I have taken didn't go into the amount of detail requred for solving this problem, the problem itself is within my understanding. I consider myself to be an average engineer.

Re:Slashdot announces breakthough

[Anonymous Coward]

Oh well since it's such a simple matter, why didn't you solve it?

Oh wait, you're full of shit.

Re:Slashdot announces breakthough

[Anonymous Coward]

We looked at this problem (and some others from Hilbert's list) in my 2nd year computer science maths modules at www.herts.ac.uk - obviously we didn't solve them but our lecturer didn't tell us it was unsolvable (until now it seems) and let us stew for 15 mins trying to figure it out before he told us. What a bastard :-)

Re:Slashdot announces breakthough

[Anonymous Coward]

Understanding a problem and solving it are two very different things. Take Fermat's Last Theorem. Anyone with a reasonable grasp of high school mathematics can understand the problem.

However, a solution eluded mathematicians for hundreds of years and in the end required mathematics well beyond high school level.

Re:Slashdot announces breakthough

[Anonymous Coward]

high school?? most professors don't understand the proof!!! ask yours if they do.

can't google

[penguinoid]

I couldn't find a google page about her (except the one in Sweedish).

Re:can't google

[Anonymous Coward]

crazy norwegian viking-beavers!! :D

Re:can't google

[Anonymous Coward]

LOL :D :D

Re:can't google

[Anonymous Coward]

norway != sweden

Not so fast

[Anonymous Coward]

You know, she could be a swinger

Hilbert?

[Anonymous Coward]

Is this the same Hilbert of "Hilbert Space" fame?

Re:Hilbert?

[Anonymous Coward]

>Is this the same Hilbert of "Hilbert Space" fame?

Yep. But he's likely much more famous for the 23 problems he presented in 1900. Proof of closure on C and R with the vector stuff implied by Hilbert is probably pretty cool, I just wish I understood it... I've only gotten as far as Riemann integration, and only on elementary functions.

Useful Links / Karma Whoring:

[omarius]

Her website is here.
The abstract for her paper is here.

Re:Useful Links / Karma Whoring:

[DaneelGiskard]

Ohhhh...I know the look of that picture of her on the page...it looks like a far too big picture downscaled.

Looking at it's size proved it, almost a half megabyte!

Here is the big version:
without height/width tags

Almost 500 KB per visit should give that server some cute traffic.

Re:Useful Links / Karma Whoring:

[Wolfbone]

"The abstract for her paper is here."

Marvellous isn't it? - apparently $30 is the going rate these days for the right of access to each small advance in mathematical and scientific knowledge. Frankly, I find this disgusting and demeaning; an unnecessary and unpleasant stain on the lady's achievements. Even the notoriously greedy and aggressive Newton would have balked at the idea that advances in science should have a price put on them.

Re:Useful Links / Karma Whoring:

[descapa]

Don't forget the picture of her Interesting that they didn't scale down this photo for the her main page. In any event congrats to her!

Re:Useful Links / Karma Whoring:

[Hast]

Seriously? I can read it for free at least. Though I am currently at the Lund University (also in Sweden) so that might be it.

Personally I agree though. Particualarly with big organisations like ACM and IEEE it's bad that they uphold status quo by making it harder to access everything.

Re:Useful Links / Karma Whoring:

[Anonymous Coward]

if you look closely, i think you can see nip.

Have you noticed

[SkArcher]

There are three stories more highly tipped at the bottom of the page, and their titles are;

• Santas helper throttles teen
• Beaver hit bus with tree
• Drunken moose alert in southern Norway

And you thought /.s moderation system needed work!

Re:Have you noticed

[Anonymous Coward]

You've obviously never been to norway :D

Re:Have you noticed

[Dr Caleb]

Drunken moose alert in southern Norway

I always thought Norwegian Moose got more tired when they drink. Must be coffee drinks.

Re:Have you noticed

[EinarH]

This one is even better:
Flying moose lands on car's roof

Driving along..smooth...KABOOM!...770 pound moose landing on your car.

Re:Have you noticed

[gorilla]

A Moose once bit my sister ...

Re:Have you noticed

[hyfe]

Laugh all you want, moose are dangerous; and anything that may cause them to behave erraticly is newsworthy :)

- Proud to live in Norway -

Re:Have you noticed

[identity0]

Was it a stoned beaver?

Re:Have you noticed

[Anonymous Coward]

This is flamebait, but what the heck, it's a joke, okay?

Ahem.

A Moose once bit my sister ...

Are you certain it was that way round?

Re:Have you noticed

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes, it's true. An angry moose is dangerous (and don't mod me as funny, because it's the truth).

Re:I prefer this other story from that website

[coyote4til7]

Dad gum it... Hoi probably meant this:

http://www.aftenposten.no/english/local/article. jh tml?articleID=676806

Re:I prefer this other story from that website

[CausticWindow]

Or what about this?

Mathematicians cheering in the aisles

[Frisky070802]

Two of the last three headlines I see on slashdot are about math (this one and Robin Milner). Timothy, the rest of us submit stories too!

Just kidding ... these are perfectly reasonable stories. But I'm still a bit surprised. But then, slashdot readers don't disappoint. They immediately honed in on Turing's sexuality and the student's physical attributes. Math, what math?

Re:Mathematicians cheering in the aisles

[HiThere]

Well, the article didn't go into much detail about the math...

Still, I expected someone to say what Hilbert's 16th problem was. (So I wouldn't feel so at a loss.)

Re:Mathematicians cheering in the aisles

[millette]

Just wait... in a few days, a new record prime will be announced - probably mersenne's 40th. Stay tuned!

Time's up, put your pencils down.

[Thud457]

"The set of 23 problems was put forward by Prussian mathematician David Hilbert in 1900 as challenges for the 20th century. Three remain unsolved, numbers 6,8 and 16."

Looks like the 20th century FAILED IT!!!!

Awww crap, did I say that out loud?!!! I'm gonna get a karma burn for that!

Re:Time's up, put your pencils down.

[JoeBuck]

Hilbert's problem #6, asking for a proof of the Riemann conjecture, will now get you a $1 million prize if you can solve it. Good luck, people have only been trying for 140 years.

argh... evidence that...

[mantera]

all those people who comment with a "he" demonstrate that a good proportion of slashdotters don't even click the links and see the stuff linked to... it's a SHE!!!... and she's got a cute belly and a sweet smile too...

wow... imagine taking her to bed... i don't know if it'd turn me on that she's a published mathematician of extraordinary achievement or if it'd make me having an erection an infinitesmially remote possibility.

Re:argh... evidence that...

[Newspimp]

If it were the latter, I bet she could write out a formula showing the declining rate of erection possibiility.

Re:argh... evidence that...

[Anonymous Coward]

I proved when I was 13 that the angle of the dangle is directly related to the heat of the meat. Google for it.

Re:argh... evidence that...

[satanami69]

That is true. Also of note is the angle is inversely proportional to the mass of the ass.

Re:argh... evidence that...

[Anonymous Coward]

In my experience, very smart girls tend to be quite dirty. Chances are she'd give you a woody one way or another - you wouldn't be thinking about here mathematical prowess...

Re:argh... evidence that...

[steveorama]

I think it's "the angle of the dangle is directly proportional to the heat of the meat." Or so beavis would have us believe...

Thanks a lot!

[Anonymous Coward]

It is bad enough reading Slashdot at work without someone slipping in a URL with hot naked babes for me to click on. I'll check it out at home...

Re:hot? cute?

[wallywam1]

Maybe you weren't expecting a sloven, coke-bottled, matted-haired geek like the rest of us apparently were.

Re:Ask Michael Jackson:

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes, if you are OS X user.

hmmmmm

[JeanBaptiste]

the caption below the photo says "Elin Oxenhielm pointing to the second part of Hilbert's 16th problem on her web page"

looks like a chalkboard to me...

oh well.

Re:hmmmmm

[Enzo1977]

Looks like a really cute geek chick if you ask me.

Re:hmmmmm

[Kompressor]

Yes, haven't you heard of the new markup language CBML?

*ducks*

Re:hmmmmm

[netjeff]

I wonder if the caption was intended to read something like: "[...] pointing to the solution. This image is on her web page."

Re:hmmmmm

[IronBlade]

A good old fashioned "web page" for a good old math problem...?

Re:hmmmmm

[pmw57]

the caption below the photo says "Elin Oxenhielm pointing to the second part of Hilbert's 16th problem on her web page"

You may need to take some reading comprehension as it say "... in this photo from her web page."

--
Paul Wilkins

Re:hmmmmm

[JeanBaptiste]

hey paul wilkins... i see they have FIXED their caption. thats not what it originally said...

"you may need to take some reading comprehension"

but thanks for being a condescending ass about it!

Yes

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes.. Here's a bio..

Blame Linus?

[Anonymous Coward]

http://marc.theaimsgroup.com/?l=linux-kernel&m=106 988045610347&w=2

Linus releases another beaver and right after that, you can read this kind of news.

Coincidence? Nope.

Swedish Student Party?

[BillsPetMonkey]

For about 1.7 seconds, I thought the headline said ... oh, nevermind.

I'm convinced

[Hoi Polloi]

They've got cute mathematicians, terrorist beavers, psychopathic elves and I've got friends over there. That's it, I'm moving to Norway.

Re:I'm convinced

[SkArcher]

I think I'm with you, some of the other stories are about there being too much caffeine in the sea (!?) and free music downloads. What do you need to emigrate?

Re:I'm convinced

[Anonymous Coward]

She is Swedish.

What I heard on a hitchhiking trip (in Denmark):
Norwegian to a Swede: "Norway has everything Sweden has except for one thing."
Swede: "Uh ok,.but what's this thing?"
Norwegian: "Good neighbors."

Moral: Norwegians and Danes don't seem to get along with Swedes.

Re:I'm convinced

[pixel_bc]

Looks like she's wearing a ring... not that I checked or anything. ;)

Re:I'm convinced

[Squirrelgirl]

As a norweigan, I want to add that we get along well with swedes. Better than danes. Its norwegians and swedes against danes. However, norwegians and swedes have this friendly teasing thing going on that makes foreigners confused.

Re:I'm convinced

[Krumme]

Uh... Stockholm is in Sweden, but good luck with your new moving-to-a-different-continent-project ;)

Re:I'm convinced

[Anonymous Coward]

Being swedish and working for a scandinavian company, I have to say that norwegians (and fins, for that matter) are way easier to deal with than danes. Danes are nice people, but they are difficult to cooperate with (probably something to do with them being attached to the continent... ;-)).

Hot sweedish chicks

[Andreas(R)]

I'm impressed by the sweedish girls at Stockholm University.

One

Two

Three

Four :)

Enjoy :)

Re:Hot sweedish chicks

[Anonymous Coward]

Fuck! I jumped out of my chair when I looked at #4. You tricky bastard!

Re:Hot sweedish chicks

[jaf]

Following a few links from your second link, we find pictures of beautiful people (most of them):

http://www.fest.se/matte-ekonomi/inspark.html

http://www.fest.se/matte-ekonomi/mikdugga2.html

Hurray for us Scandinavians!

Re:Hot sweedish chicks

[k98sven]

I'm impressed by the sweedish girls at Stockholm University.

I'm not.. Dang, I think I'll have to switch departments.. :-)

BTW: I've seen some pretty hot chicks from NTNU too, ya know.. Bit stupid though.. :-)

Re:Hot sweedish chicks

[Anonymous Coward]

hehe nice

Re:Hot sweedish chicks

[Adam_Trask]

Good

Work

Andreas,

holy #&@%$!!!!

Re:Hot sweedish chicks

[eddy]

Tanja is also very smart and very se.. beautiful. Really passionate about math too (and that's what counts :-)

Re:Hot sweedish chicks

[dagnabit]

i was getting into it until that one... thanks dude.

Re:Hot sweedish chicks

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm gay - you insensitive clod!

Re:Hot sweedish chicks

[Trejkaz]

Oooo baby... number four! Hahahahahahahahahaha

Re:Hot sweedish chicks

[scavenger87]

This is then for you: http://www.fusion.kth.se/~tommyb/ Tanja's little borther

Re:Hot sweedish chicks

[mantera]

I have always been impressed by the scandanavians; Those Scandanavian sure look fit, healthy, happy, more evolved and civilised creatures than us... for some reason i was delighted with schadenfreude when i saw this pic ... in the foreground there is a a beautiful example of what scandanavia always represented... and there, in the background, behind her, was a headless, dangling ape.

Re:Hot sweedish chicks

[Spunk]

#3 gives me a Bergkvist.

Re:Hot sweedish chicks

[Anonymous Coward]

Hi there, don't miss out on number three's hunk kid brother!

Re:Hot sweedish chicks

[gardyloo]

The guy in the background is obviously trying to hang himself because the hot chick in the foreground has a glowing booger.

Re:Hot sweedish chicks

[Anonymous Coward]

They may not have covered that part in US sex ed, but it takes the headless ape in the back together with the beautiful chick in the front in order to make some more of those beautiful chicks.

When you explain jokes...

[Anonymous Coward]

they are infinitely more funny!

explanation: infinite is a mathematical term meaning "a whole bunch" - get it? Like a whole bunch of laughs you are receiving for your last joke!

aaargh!!

[Tibor the Hun]

what the hell is the answer?
90 posts already down the drain...

Re:aaargh!!

[operagost]

42.

Re:aaargh!!

[Anonymous Coward]

It's 4.

Re:aaargh!!

[jfengel]

I'm afraid that if you have to ask, the odds are you won't understand the answer. Or, in fact, the question. I sure don't understand either one.

Maybe math, then..

[k98sven]

I wouldn't really agree with that..

But it does seem true that math is "the young man's game".
(To quote the great mathematician GH Hardy)

Some of history's great mathematicians never lived to see their 30th birthday. Galois, and Abel for instance.

There are counterexamples, of course, the chemist Joel Hildebrand published his last research paper at over 100 years of age.

Re:Maybe math, then..

[The Cydonian]

But it does seem true that math is "the young man's game".

No longer. The young woman here disproved your hypothesis.

Re:Maybe math, then..

[Bio]

> There are counterexamples, of course, the chemist Joel Hildebrand published his last research paper at over 100 years of age.

Not to mention C. F. Gauss (1777-1855)

Re:Maybe math, then..

[k98sven]

I'd rather say it was Hardy's hypothesis, although from what I know of his character, he was probably not a sexist or prone to any other form of bigotry;
He was an atheist and [most likely] a homosexual, and was therefore very much an 'outsider' himself in his times)

There simply weren't very many women in math 100 years ago.

And while I'm on the topic, it is interesting to note that Stockholm University was one of the first universites to give a chair in mathematics to a woman;
The great Sonya Kovalevskaya.

Re:Maybe math, then..

[The Cydonian]

from what I know of his character, he was probably not a sexist or prone to any other form of bigotry; He was an atheist and [most likely] a homosexual, and was therefore very much an 'outsider' himself in his times)

Yes, read about that myself. Back in their time, the math guys had a club of sorts didn't they, where they used to discuss matters of civi, and academic, interest.

Re:Maybe math, then..

[epine]

Gauss is the worst counter-example you could have picked. He filled many journals in his late teen years when his mind was exploding, and didn't manage to publish all the results therein over the rest of his career. I think he had the foundation in place for most of what Abel "discovered" 50 to 100 years later (IIRC when Abel lived).

The "Men of Mathematics" by E.T. Bell (IIRC) has much of this story, as do most of books about the history of mathematics.

Re:I'd hit it! tsarkon reports

[Anonymous Coward]

hot *and* smart.

Something you apparently aren't.

Doubt she spanks it to your picture.

Translation?

[grasshoppa]

Norwegian Aftenposten has an English version of the reports."

Uh..can anybody translate the english version into moron for me?

Re:Translation?

[Anonymous Coward]

Well, I can translate it back to Swedish Chef (and that's pretty close):

Svede-a helps creck heesturic met prublem
Ileen Ooxunheeelm, a 22-yeer-oold mezeemeteecs stoodunt et Stuckhulm Uneefersity, mey hefe-a sulfed pert ooff oone-a ooff zee sceeunce-a's greet prublems. Next veek un erteecle-a veell be-a poobleeshed refeeleeng her sulooshun fur pert ooff Heelbert's 16t prublem, Svedeesh nevs eguncy TT repurts.
Bork Bork Bork!

Re:Translation?

[Johnno74]

For you, no problem!!

Translated to "moron"
"Elin Oxenhielm, a 22-year-old madematics student at Stockholm Ubehsity, may habe solbid part of one of the, ERRRR, sciess's great progglems. Next weebuhk an article will be publishid rebealigg heh solushun f' part of Hilbeht's 16d progglem, Swebuhdish news agency TT reports."

Thanks to the Dialectizer. Its pretty funny translated into any of the other options too, but my favourite is "Jive"

Attempted?!

[Anonymous Coward]

Do they give a nobel prize for attempted physics?

Re:Attempted?!

[Brian James D'Astous]

good thing there is no nobel prize in mathematics, dumb-ass

Re:Attempted?!

[Anonymous Coward]

You call him dumbass?
He said PHYSICS, dumbass !

Re:Attempted?!

[Brian James D'Astous]

Yes, and his comment only makes sense by if there is also a nobel prize in mathematics, dumbass

Re:Attempted?!

[Anonymous Coward]

but, dumbass, he did not mention mathematics.

he was making an ANALOGY.

get it, dumbass?

problem description

[combinatorics]

Here's a description of the problem from
http://aleph0.clarku.edu/~djoyce/hilbert/toc.html
snip...A thorough investigation of the relative position of the separate branches when their number is the maximum seems to me to be of very great interest, and not less so the corresponding investigation as to the number, form, and position of the sheets of an algebraic surface in space...

Can someone please post graphical, dumbed down representation of this problem so we can better understand it?

Re:problem description

[IamGarageGuy 2]

I think the idea is that if you are a math major - you can understand it. The question is not comprehensible without a few years of math study. This would definitely include myself.

Re:problem description

[rueba]

I'd have to say it's (almost) impossible to understand what this problem is about without having a fair amount of mathematical background.

But in brief, it appears to be a problem about the "topology of real algebraic curves"

"Topology" is all about the shape of things. e.g a donut and coffee cup are the same from a topological viewpoint because you can transform one to the other without tearing the donut or coffee cup. There is probably lots of good introductions on the web.

As to "real algebraic curves", here is a link:

I quote:

Curves that can be given in implicit form as f(x,y)=0, where f is a polynomial, are called algebraic. The degree of f is called the degree or order of the curve. Thus conics (Section 7) are algebraic curves of degree two. Curves of degree three already have a great variety of shapes, and only a few common ones will be given here.

Basically polynomials of several variables is what they are, as far as I can tell. y = x^2 (which is a parabola) is a simple example.

So Hilbert was asking about the "shape" of algebraic curves (I think).

Now that was just the first part! I am not really sure the second part is about ...

The link again is

here

I welcome corrections from anyone with more math knowledge.

Re:problem description

[teorth]

Basically polynomials of several variables is what they are, as far as I can tell. y = x^2 (which is a parabola) is a simple example.

So Hilbert was asking about the "shape" of algebraic curves (I think).

Yeah, that's pretty much the first part of Hilbert's 16th problem. For example, just by using quadratic equations, one can obtain a single infinite curve (like a parabola y = x^2), a single closed curve (like a circle x^2 + y^2 = 1), two disjoint infinite curves (like a hyperbola x^2 - y^2 = 1), or two intersecting infinite curves (like the pair of lines x^2 = y^2). That's about all you can do with quadratics. With cubics, you can get more complicated things (like a closed loop together with another infinite curve - look up "elliptic curve" for some examples), and so on and so forth. The first part of Hilbert's 16th is to classify all the possible numbers of loops and infinite curves that an algebraic equation of a fixed degree can generate, as well as their relative position (if an equation generates two loops, are they disjoint, or intersecting, or is one contained inside the other? etc.)

The second half of Hilbert's 16th is similar, but deals with curves that are not solved by algebraic equations, but rather by differential equations. For instance, the differential equation dy/dx = y gives exponential curves such as y = e^x. Sometimes these curves converge to a periodic loop known as a "limit cycle"; Hilbert's problem is then to count how many limit cycles there are and how they are positioned.

Oxenhielm's paper can be found here. It seems that she hasn't solved Hilbert's 16th problem for all differential equations, which would be absolutely amazing, but only for a specific class of such equations, although this does still seem to be a substantial achievement.

Terry

Re:problem description

[rueba]

Thanks, that was pretty informative.

Ok, I kinda see what the second part is about:

you have dy/dx = X/Y

where X and Y are "rational integral functions of degree n" (basically some sort of general polynomials right?) and you want to find the shape of the curve that solves it.

What I don't see is the relationship to the first part. To my untrained eye the second part looks much harder as the function is more complicated.

Did Hilbert just put them together because they were both about "the topology of curves" and there is nothing more to it than that?

I also read something on mathworld about this being related to the Shimura-Taniyama conjecture relating elliptic curves and modular forms that was used in Fermat's Last Theorem but that went WAAAY over my head.

Re:problem description

[archeopterix]

Here's a description of the problem from http://aleph0.clarku.edu/~djoyce/hilbert/toc.html

Hey, that's the problem I solved 4 years ago! Found it on a chalkboard in a deserted class, thought it was a homework assignment, you know...

Re:I'd hit it! tsarkon reports

[Anonymous Coward]

I dont think she is that hot. You need to get out more and get into a few more pants.

I must admit, despite having had better, I'd do her.

Damn...

[Querty]

I just read that as

"Swedish Student Party Solves 16th Hilbert Problem"

And /me was thinking: some party!

Re:Damn...

[Anonymous Coward]

I was thinking it's "Party" until I came across your note.

42

[IamGarageGuy 2]

Why didn't they just ask me the answer - I knew it was 42 the whole time. As a general rule the answer is always 42.

Re:42

[Zeelan]

Don't you mean the answer is always XLII?

LOL!

[Anonymous Coward]

not only did he sneak a goatse into here and got people to look, but he even got a +1 informative out of it! moderators TRULY smoke crack.

Norwegian

[Anonymous Coward]

Actually she's from Norway

She's pretty hot..

[Anonymous Coward]

... for a math student.

nice

[Anonymous Coward]

The "allegedly" made it funny.

Re:nice

[Anonymous Coward]

It's that little twist.....little turnabout....

Re:nice

[Anonymous Coward]

I don't want anybody thinking anything improper of Saint Nick, regardless of what he is accused of.

How come I think of...

[cnelzie]

...Mentos when I look at your pictures?

Dangit! I have that song in my head...

"Mentos, The Freshmaker!"

Her pants are down?

[Aphex Junkie]

Does anyone notice that her pants are partially pulled down? By this observation, I can conclude that she must have had some....help... from a professor, perhaps? *wink wink*

Re:Her pants are down?

[Anonymous Coward]

her pants are partially pulled down

Or maybe she just has a huge belly that looks like an ass ;)

Solve the picking-up girls problem

[lonb]

From "Fresh Prince of Bel Air" Upon finding seeing Will while running around the Playboy mansion, Carlton says:

"I got a number! If I'm lucky, I'll get her other six."

Re:SECKS

[Jugalator]

shes hot? man, us geeks must really have low standards. wait. i dont have standards that low. maybe im not a geek! woot! no...im probably just more out of touch with reality than most other geeks.

Geeks who don't have a girlfriend don't have high standards. Geeks who have a harem of girlfriends whose surnames are JPG have high standards, as evident by their harem.

You bastard.

[Civil_Disobedient]

That was pretty nice, leading us down a primrose path and then throwing that 4th babe in there. Wasn't expecting that fine piece of crumpet. You bastard.

Re:You bastard.

[scavenger87]

She is not a young PhD student, she is a student advisor. Most of male middle-aged math professors don't look goof either.

Re:You bastard.

[Craig3010]

Yeah, my pecker screamed in terror too...

Stoned beaver

[GQuon]

Beaver hit bus with tree
There is a disproportionately high number of kernel hackers in Scandinavia. This is what happens to our environment when open source is released into it. I'm contacting the Norwegian Green Party about having Linux banned, immidiately.

Re:Stoned beaver

[Looke]

The Green Party is really small and insignificant, but it's one of the few which states they support Linux.

Way to go lady !

[Tacoguy]

Years ago on my way to an MS Physics degree, I tried my hand at many imponderables and love to see a success.

Of additional interest is this story of a Swedish mathematics student is being reported in a paper from Norway (I love Opera browser BTW) and at the bottom of the page are other headines:


Drunken moose alert in southern Norway
Beaver hit bus with tree
Free Norwegian music overload
Researchers zero in on new Viking ship


aftenposten.no is on my favs list for sure !

TG

Re:Way to go lady !

[vidarh]

The moose story reminds me of an incident in Sweden a few years back, when a flock of geese had been feeding of fermented berries and were completely drunk when they continued their flight, with the result that local police had to warn drivers of falling geese over several heavily trafficked roads. It's not unusual for birds to overeat on berries and get unstable because of the extra weight, so the alcohol level needed to screw them up probably wasn't very high, but it was a pretty unusual incident...

Re:Way to go lady !

[Tacoguy]

Yay Vidarh ! At least someone around here has a perspective ... but it seems to me that someone that solves boundary cycles for polynomial differential equations should get some respect on /.

I tend to not like differential equations let alone these ones !

The textbook at Uni was only an inch thick and was titled "Elementary Differential Equations"

Better titled "your worst nightmare"

Let us award genius when it is due... she deserves it.

TG

Re:problem description: not today

[McLoud]

Our mathematicians are busy dribbling^H^H^H^H^H^H^Hanalizing around the girl^H^H^H^Hproblem

Re:hot? cute?

[Anonymous Coward]

Great link. I'm so sick of chicks with implants. Well, not really, but it's nice to see some chicks that were born beautiful and decided not to mess with the body they were given.

i'll bite

[themusicgod1]

you sir, are mistaken.

unless my 16-colour display is hiding something from me, this girl is not only smart as a dolphin, but pretty, too.

kind of wants to make me work harder at math, even for the day...

Re:mirror

[Trejkaz]

Only on Slashdot does the expression "shove a greased Yoda doll up your ass" get an Informative moderation.

I think more math problems would be solved...

[Pflipp]

...if only they managed not to present them so dull and un-understandable.

Most often when you think that you've finally found the solution, it appears that the only thing that you've solved is the meaning of the dang problem description.

Re:I think more math problems would be solved...

[0x0d0a]

It's not such a problem in mathematics (AFAIK), where definitions tend to be a bit more rigorous, but a tremendous number of philosophical problems can be boiled down to incomplete or incorrect definitions.

Re:I think more math problems would be solved...

[Pflipp]

Whah, flamebait :-)

These days, nobody recognizes "funny" anymore...

You know Stockholm's...

[devnulljapan]

...in Sweden right. So, not much point moving to Norway. Yes they're close, but does that mean you'll switch?

Re:You know Stockholm's...

[Hoi Polloi]

Ooops, you're right. It was the website URL that threw me. Eh, geographically close enough.

Math nerds

[StikyPad]

Math nerds were never that hot in my school. Yet another reason to move to Sweden.

NTNU chicks

[Anonymous Coward]

Hey some NTNU girls are hot and clever too. I happen to know some of them.

Why it's funny

[Anonymous Coward]

Explanation: F(x) is the indefinite integral of f(x) if and only if d[F(x)]/dy == f(x).

Her home page

[KilobyteKnight]

Was anyone else disappointed that her home page didn't have a link to her nude webcam gallery?

offtopic

[AoT]

"Dada ended art."

actually bulldada ended art.

it was a mercy killing.

How are you feeling, KOS-MOS?

[shadowcabbit]

OK, female genius mathematician, and the word "Hilbert". Anyone else make this free-associative long-jump?

ACTUAL Swedish Student Party in parent...

[Anonymous Coward]

...for all of you who read it wrong... :)

not really

[graf0z]

From the article: "Oxenhielm's solution pertains to a special version of the second part of problem 16" (bold by me).

In other word's, problem no 16 is still unsolved besides special cases.

Special versions of fermats theorem were already proofed by fermat himself. But it took 300 years until Andrew Wiles and one of his students proved it generally. If You look at the history of famous mathematical conjectures (ie fermats, poincares) You'll see: prooving a special case will probably not really help prooving the general case. If You are very lucky, You get a hint how to solve the "real" problem.

/graf0z.

Re:not really

[jfengel]

And on a slow news day, that's news. I guess. But since none of the commenters thus far seem to have much of a grasp of either the problem or its solution, I'd say the primary reason is to be able to post a picture of an attractive woman pointing at a math problem.

In general, you'll note that important advances in mathematics aren't usually first reported in Aftenposten.

Re:not really

[Anonymous Coward]

"But it took 300 years until Andrew Wiles and one of his students proved it generally"

thats one dedicated teacher to have students at 300

Re:not really

[HeghmoH]

We've hit a new low on slashdot. First, we had people who didn't read the article. Then we had people who didn't even read the summary. Now we have somebody who apparently didn't even read the frigging headline.

Yes, the headline. Right there in the title bar of the window. "Swedish Student Partly Solves 16th Hilbert Problem". Your "objection" is part of the article, summary, and headline.

I'm a math student

[Anonymous Coward]

Going for a Masters degree.
However, being a party animal takes all of my free time and the chances of finding 1/100 of a solution to a famous math problem is rather slim...
Poor me

to me she only proves

[heymjo]

that not all swede chicks are blond and cute

Hit On By Slashdotters?

[handy_vandal]

Could be fake [wedding ring] to avoid being hit on by the /. geeks.

Oh, please. Let's review: young woman, beautiful, smart. That makes her a Slashdotter's dream. I think such a woman knows that Slashdotters won't dare hit on a woman of their dreams ....

-kgj

Re:Hit On By Slashdotters?

[hurtstotouchfire]

That's completely untrue.

I once met this girl that was a med student, and was ridiculously gorgeous. Although actually I guess managing to get nude pictures of her to put on my website doesn't really count as hitting on her, huh.

Ok, well there was this other girl a few weeks ago that I asked out to coffee and then couldn't talk to...

Well there was that one...

Ok fine.

EQ vs Math

[theraccoon]

It's sad, but I was more excited to see EverQuest Players Defeat 'Unkillable' Monster than the solving of a math problem. Makes ya wonder who's more geekier.

I wonder how many people

[Dlugar]

I wonder how many people read the article only because of this post here.

I know I did.

Re:I wonder how many people

[Anonymous Coward]

Same here ;-) Gotta love the new fashion where girls show their panties.

Re:SECKS

[balloonhead]

If you check the article, you can visit her university site. From there you can even get her room number, telephone number and email address.

Stalk-tastic!

Her younger sisters aren't bad either...

[Anonymous Coward]

http://www.fastfreevideos.com/099bb/pic/costume/30 ed/006.jpg
seen here solving a fluid dynamics problem.

Re:Her younger sisters aren't bad either...

[Anonymous Coward]

http://www.fastfreevideos.com/099bb/pic/costume/30 ed/011.jpg
taking her sis to school

Talking Barbie's in Sweden must *encourage* math!

[Anonymous Coward]

I remember there being a somewhat modest flap in the US a few years back over the talking Barbie dolls being shipped saying the phrase "Math class is hard!" -- apparently the talking Barbie's in Sweden say something like "Flikarna kanna losa polynomial liggningarna battre an pojke!"

Hilbert who?

[phoebe]

I wonder whether Ms Oxenhielm solved this first because no one else has heard of Hilberts challenges?

Re:Hilbert who?

[reg106]

Hilbert's problems are very well known among mathematical types. Check out the book The Honors Class, written for a general audience, which covers the problems and the mathematicians who solved them. (Mathematicians can be a wacky bunch, so the bios make an interesting read. The problems themselves are cool too.)

Re:Hilbert who?

[Anonymous Coward]

I doubt anyone makes it through to the second year of a mathematics degree without hearing of the Hilbert programme.

It'd suck to be an orthodontist there...

[Anonymous Coward]

...everyone's got PERFECT teeth (of course, maybe it's not genetics but because they have really good orthodontists... Yeah, that must be it!!)

number 2

[stud9920]

"So I was writing my algebraic theorem om my promotor's computer, and it went beep beep beep..."

Re:number 2

[Anonymous Coward]

Your right she does look like the Apple stoner girl.

Wait until the RIAA see's this one

[Anonymous Coward]

http://www.aftenposten.no/english/local/article.jh tml?articleID=677487

Talk about unsolvable!

[Anonymous Coward]

Our math professor regularly spiced the homework assignments with "unsolved" math problems just to see if there was a genius hiding among his students.

Not very timely of him

[Anonymous Coward]

has solved a chunk of one of the major problems posed to 20th century mathematics ...better late than never, I guess.

Thanks for ruining a rare geek fantasy

[GuyMannDude]

She was wearing a Tux shirt, but she told me it was her boyfriend's (sorry guys), and she didn't use computers much (just Mathematica on the SGIs).

The entire male membership of slashdot just went limp thanks to you Mr. Spoils-All-The-Fun!

GMD

Re:Thanks for ruining a rare geek fantasy

[Anonymous Coward]

DAMN!!!! NOOOOOO! Why do all the cute, geek girls have to be gay or taken? Damn! I could've had a chance with that one!

And for those in the above posts who dared to imply that she wasn't hot... she's not only hot for a geek, she's in the high tier of the hot category for women in general.

If that guy ever is stupid enough to leave you, mein liepshen, there's a certain American that's thinking of you! Woot! =) lol =)

(j/k all, I'm not THAT desperate.)

(No, wait, I am. [sulks away]) =)

Re:Thanks for ruining a rare geek fantasy

[voidware]

I don't know about you, but Mathematica makes me hot. Everytime I see it, I think about solving differential equations of arbitrary order.
brandon
geek

fluid dynamics

[Anonymous Coward]

Now that's fucking funny.

Chicks and Pix

[handy_vandal]

I once met this girl that was a med student, and was ridiculously gorgeous. Although actually I guess managing to get nude pictures of her to put on my website doesn't really count as hitting on her, huh.

Doesn't count as hitting on her. But if there were any justice, those pix would send your karma rating sky-high.

Ok, well there was this other girl a few weeks ago that I asked out to coffee and then couldn't talk to...

The Slashdot Effect, dammit.

Maybe skip the coffee, try alcohol instead?

-kgj

obvious comment.....

[AsimovBesterClarke]

....would be the inappropriate chuckle (he he he). But I suppose few would get it.

Hilbert's 23 Problems

[umofomia]

You can find a list of all 23 problems here. Some of them have already been solved.

Yes, really

[Anonymous Coward]

The abstract of the paper, linked elsewhere:

Let k be an integer such that k is larger than or equal to zero, and let H be the Hilbert number. In this paper, we use the method of describing functions to prove that in the Lienard equation, the upper bound for H(2k+1) is k. By applying this method to any planar polynomial vector field, it is possible to completely solve the second part of Hilbert's 16th problem.

SwedishHot at SlashDot

[Get Behind the Mule]

I wanted to read the responses to this article because I thought that maybe one Slashdotter could give a qualified explanation of Hilbert's 16th problem, and maybe even explain something about the partial solution. That was possible back when Andrew Wiles proved his theorem, you know.

And look at this, not a single post even gets started on the subject! At least not when you browse at +2, like I do. But we're all standing around slobbering over the thought of a hot Swedish math babe! And so am I!

Hey Taco, can we get this gal for an Ask Slashdot interview? She could explain her theorem, and tell us something about her lingerie.

Re:SwedishHot at SlashDot

[amokk]

Being interviewed by Slashdot is analagous to being interviewed by Jerry Springer.

Re:SwedishHot at SlashDot

[Anonymous Coward]

I agree on most but the lingerie; does anyone have a valid pass for that site? the abstract doesn't say much.

Do you really want a "slashdot answer" on a math problem?

why not google for something like "Hilbert 16th problem"?

Re:SwedishHot at SlashDot

[Anonymous Coward]

Here's the text, dude. I left off her phone number, because I don't want any competion:

On the second part of Hilbert's 16th problem

Elin Oxenhielm, ,

Department of Mathematics, Stockholm University, Stockholm 10691, Sweden

Received 3 July 2003; accepted 3 October 2003. ; Available online 18 November 2003.

Abstract

Let k be an integer such that k is larger than or equal to zero, and let H be the Hilbert number. In this paper, we use the method of describing functions to prove that in the Lienard equation, the upper bound for H(2k+1) is k. By applying this method to any planar polynomial vector field, it is possible to completely solve the second part of Hilbert's 16th problem.

Author Keywords: Second part of Hilbert's 16th problem; Hilbert number; Lienard equation; Describing function; Limit cycle; Polynomial vector field

Article Outline

1. Introduction
2. Preliminaries
3. Result
Acknowledgements
References

1. Introduction

In 1900, Hilbert presented a list consisting of 23 mathematical problems (see [1]). The second part of the 16th problem appears to be one of the most persistent in that list, second only to the 8th problem, the Riemann conjecture. The second part of the 16th problem is traditionally split into three parts (see [5]).

Problem 1. A limit cycle is an isolated closed orbit. Is it true that a planar polynomial vector field has but a finite number of limit cycles?

Problem 2. Is it true that the number of limit cycles of a planar polynomial vector field is bounded by a constant depending on the degree of the polynomials only?

Denote the degree of the planar polynomial vector field by n. The bound on the number of limit cycles in Problem 2 is denoted by H(n), and is known as the Hilbert number. Linear vector fields have no limit cycles, hence H(1)=0.

Problem 3. Give an upper bound for H(n).

Let k be an integer such that k0. In 1977, Lins et al. [2] found examples with k different limit cycles in the Lienard equation

(1)

where

F(x)=q2k+1x2k+1+q2kx2k+&#183;&#183 ;&#183;+q2x2+q1x.

The degree of this polynomial vector field is denoted by 2k+1. The coefficients qi (for integers i such that 1i2k+1) are real constants. Lins et al. [2] conjectured the number k as the upper bound for the number of limit cycles of the Lienard equation (1). Their conjecture thus states that in the Lienard equation (1), the upper bound for H(2k+1) is k.

In his list of mathematical problems for the next century, published in 1998, Smale [4] mentioned the Lienard equation (1) as a simplified version of the second part of Hilbert's 16th problem (see [3]).

In the present paper, we will prove the conjecture stated by Lins et al. [2] in 1977, thereby solving the simplified version of the second part of Hilbert's 16th problem stated by Smale [3] in 1998.
2. Preliminaries

In this section, we will introduce the method of describing functions, which may be used to calculate limit cycles in nonlinear dynamic systems (see [4]).

Consider a dynamic system

where x is the m-dimensional vector of state variables, M is an mxm constant matrix and h(x) is an m-dimensional vector of nonlinear functions.

Assume that the state variables are dominated by a harmonic term of a specific order

xa0+a1 sin(t),

where a0 is the m-dimensional vector of center values, a1 is the m-dimensional vector of amplitudes and is the frequency. a0, a1 and are assumed to be real. a1 and are nonzero.

Then, approximate the vector of nonlinear functions by discarding higher harmonic terms (terms of the form cos(rt) and sin(rt) for integers r such that r2)

h(x)+Na1 sin(t),

where is an m-dimensional constant vector and N is an mxm constant matrix. The components of N are called describing functions.

The system becomes

and solutions for a0, a1 and satisfy

This one is true, AND...

[e_lehman]

This is apparently a true story. At least, I have Dantzig's account here in "History of Mathematical Programming -- A Collection of Personal Reminiscences." Two interesting side nodes:

• Dantzig also formulated the notion of a linear program-- one of the really big ideas of computer science. Then he went to show the idea to von Neumann-- the genius's genius. Von Neumann's inital response was, "Get to the point." So... In under one minute, I slapped on the blackboard a geometric and algebraic version of the problem. Von Neumann stood up and said, 'Oh that!' Then, for the next hour and a half, he proceeded to give me a lecture on the mathematical theory of linear programs. It seems that Von Neumann had a way of making really, really smart people feel slow in comparison.
• It seems that for every American legend, there must be a corresponding Russian legend. (For example, I understand that Lenin is credited with many of the same feats as Lincoln and Washington.) In this case, I've heard several Russians tell the same story about their premiere national mathematician, Kolmogorov.

Re:This one is true, AND...

[Anonymous Coward]

American legend? Von Neumann was German.

Re:This one is true, AND...

[gkuz]

American legend? Von Neumann was German.

I'm pretty sure the poster was referring to Dantzig, not von Neumann, who was Hungarian anyway.

Re:This one is true, AND...

[Salsaman]

But it's easy for the Russians. Remember, in Soviet Russia, maths problems solve you.

Or this one...

[Fast Ben]

http://www.aftenposten.no/english/local/article.jh tml?articleID=676663

Swedish Student Party

[|>>?]

When I read this headline, I had visions of a couple of geeks sitting in a dorm room with a big coffee pot, some crates of beer, some pizza's sitting around listening to ABBA - talking (as geeks do) when one of them pipes up and says: "You know, when you say that, this makes me think of that maths problem in class yesterday." another pipes up: "You know, I just think we solved it."

Anyway bit of a let down when it was part*l*y, rather than party!

Whoa!

[Anonymous Coward]

I can just say one thing:

Caramba!

They did what at a party?

[jarran]

Student party solves 16th Hilbert Problem? Jeez, when I was a student, we did drugs and group sex at parties, not math! Being a student just isn't what it used to be.

Apes.

[Anonymous Coward]

Am I the only one who finds geekish lusting to be just as offensive as oafish lusting? I mean, seriously, you would hope at some rung on the intellectual ladder that a woman could accomplish *something* without a reference to her more obvious qualities.

Yes, I am a female, and I am quite positively a hideous beast, most horrendous in my wrath. Why else would I be commenting at all, right?

Re:Apes.

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes, I am a female

It would be great if you could post some pictures, I'm having trouble jacking off to just the text of your message.

I wrote you a Haiku

fap fap fap fap fap
fap fap fap fap fap fap fap
fap fap fap fap fap

Look Carefully

[JonnyQabbala]

If you look really carefully, you will see an engagement ring on her finger.
Guess we all luck out.

No, those look like this.

[Mindjiver]

A student party in Sweden looks more like this :

Party #1

Party #2

Party #3

Re:SECKS

[DoctorHibbert]

What are you an idiot?!? Haven't you seen any teen love movies? Geek chicks always turn out super hot!! All you need to do is take of the glasses, let down her hair and unbutton her shirt a little.

Glasses? check
Long hair in bun? check check
Dowdy, boyish outfit? check check eheck!!!!

She is the trifecta! MAN SHE IS RIPE FOR THE TAKING!!!!

If you can't see that, well, then that's just sad.

I can't believe you guys.

[d99mo]

It's sad to see how fast the posts went from "discussion" to almost pure sexism.

Come on, what kind of people do you want us to be seen as?

So she's pretty hot, so what? I don't see a lot of "hot chick"-articles on /. normally. Focus on the relevant part. She proved a part of an unsolved problem at the age of 22. Give her some respect. Kudos to Elin!

Wish we were all as smart her, here in southern Sweden as well. :)

Re:I can't believe you guys.

[Anonymous Coward]

Can you imagine what the world would be like if women behaved like men with regards to their reactions to any sort of non-sexual achievements?

Sure, Shakespeare wrote some interesting plays, but for crying out loud, look at his hair! Why doesn't he wash it once in awhile?

And Bill Gates, maybe he's a great business predator and all, but c'mon, would you really want to cuddle up at night with a guy with absolutely no fashion sense, a whiny voice, and no pecs or butt whatsoever? Forget his products.

Now Albert Einstein - check it out! Yeah, yeah, equation whatever. If we get rid of those eight boring paragraphs of his math paper, we'll have room for that picture!

We guys are DAMNED LUCKY that women have some sort of wiring in them that keeps them from going postal on our asses all the time.

Re:I can't believe you guys.

[Anonymous Coward]

The article contains no elaboration, the image is insufficient for determining what she's done, and her webpage contains no further information. This leaves absolutely nothing for discussion. It's not sexist for males to comment about a woman being attractive. It's not even sexist for them to be surprised that it was a woman that offered a partial solution, because women consist of much smaller portion of the population of mathematics students. It's not "I'm surprised a woman solved it because women are bad at math," or "I don't believe she solved it because women can't do math," it's "I'm surprised this particular solution happens to be from a woman because they're comparatively rare."

Re:I can't believe you guys.

[Craig3010]

Yeah, and what a great tan on that hot little body

Re:I can't believe you guys.

[Anonymous Coward]

Damn you. You're just used to the hotness of swedish chicks.

Except...

[CrystalFalcon]

Except engagement rings in Sweden don't look like American engagement rings.

In Sweden, the telltale sign of an engagement ring is an _absence_ of any stone. It's a nondescript gold ring. It looks pretty much like The One Ring but without the elvish runes. On the inside of the ring, though, date and names are engraved.

I'd say this particular ring is either a family heirloom, or that she's extremely Americanized. My guess at odds for the two options would be about 90/10.

Must be time for bed...

[Jellybob]

... I read that as Sweedish Student *Party* Solves whatever it was.

No, I havn't read the article, but my guess is the people at that party were doing some good shit to be solving what sounds like a maths problem.

You can't understand them either?

[CrystalFalcon]

Seriously, Norwegians don't understand Danes either? :-) I've always regarded Norwegian as being sort of halfway in-between Swedish and Danish...

Book titles...

[CrystalFalcon]

From what I remember from my college studies (seem to have flushed most of it out by now), any book where the title started with "Introduction to..." or "Elementary" was a warning you'd better sit down and brace yourself before opening the cover.

Those books were, as you say, nightmares.

Re:hot? cute?

[Anonymous Coward]

That site is alright
It so happens I have a torrent of site rip, but I guess I can't post it, sorry.

Re:Spock's Equations

[Anonymous Coward]

Kirk's log?????????

Ohhhh, HI*L*BERT

[sharkey]

And here I was wondering if you got walloped with a surgical two-by-four if you turned in a wrong answer.

Context

[ixache]

I know that this is Slashdot and that around here the looks of a mathematician are more important than her work, but if anyone is interested, here are a few pointers to get to know more.

First, a short description of Hilbert's problems at Wolfram: Hilbert's Problems -- from MathWorld.

Then, a link to a text of Hilbert's original lecture in Paris in 1900.

Next, a quote of the 16-th problem as laid out by Hilbert. (Sorry, no fancy LaTeX here.)

16. Problem of the topology of algebraic curves and surfaces

The maximum number of closed and separate branches which a plane algebraic curve of the n-th order can have has been determined by Harnack. There arises the further question as to the relative position of the branches in the plane. As to curves of the 6-th order, I have satisfied myself--by a complicated process, it is true--that of the eleven branches which they can have according to Harnack, by no means all can lie external to one another, but that one branch must exist in whose interior one branch and in whose exterior nine branches lie, or inversely. A thorough investigation of the relative position of the separate branches when their number is the maximum seems to me to be of very great interest, and not less so the corresponding investigation as to the number, form, and position of the sheets of an algebraic surface in space. Till now, indeed, it is not even known what is the maxi mum number of sheets which a surface of the 4-th order in three dimensional space can really have.

In connection with this purely algebraic problem, I wish to bring forward a question which, it seems to me, may be attacked by the same method of continuous variation of coefficients, and whose answer is of corresponding value for the topology of families of curves defined by differential equations. This is the question as to the maximum number and position of Poincare's boundary cycles (cycles limites) for a differential equation of the first order and degree of the form dy/dx = Y/X where X and Y are rational integral functions of the n-th degree in x and y. Written homogeneously, this is X(y dz/dt - z dy/dt) + Y(z dx/dt - x dz/dt) + Z(x dy/dt - y dx/dt) = 0, where X, Y, and Z are rational integral homogeneous functions of the n-th degree in x, y, z, and the latter are to be determined as functions of the parameter t.

Finally, I'll quote the abstract from Miss Elin Oxenhielm's article On the second part of Hilbert's 16th problem :

Let k be an integer such that k is larger than or equal to zero, and let H be the Hilbert number. In this paper, we use the method of describing functions to prove that in the Lienard equation, the upper bound for H(2k+1) is k. By applying this method to any planar polynomial vector field, it is possible to completely solve the second part of Hilbert's 16th problem.

Author Keywords: Second part of Hilbert's 16th problem; Hilbert number; Lienard equation; Describing function; Limit cycle; Polynomial vector field

To get the full text of the article you must apparently have a subscription of pay a $30 fee. It is easily available if you follow the directions from the author's page as I did.

Hope this helps

Now allow me for a few comments: solving one of Hilbert's problem is a huge achievement, even it's only part of one. What is even more stricking is that it's coming from a woman. Don't get me wrong, I'm no sexist, quite the contrary. What I mean is that only very few women made it to be recorded in the history of the mathematical science at large: other than Hypatia of Alexandria; Maria Gaetana Agnesi; Sophie Germain; Ada Byron, Lady Lovelace; Sofia Kovalevskaya; Emmy Noether, not many names come to mind. It would be really nice to add another one, to begin, and then work up from there.

Xavier

Re:Context

[Anonymous Coward]

I've taken a look at her article (downloaded it via an institutional subscription). It's eight pages long, with a lot of figures, and is short and easy to read. It's also categorically not an important theoretical contribution to Hilbert's 16th problem.

The author tries to determine the number of limit cycles for the Lienard equation. This would not solve the full 16th problem, but it would deal with an interesting special case, and it would likely take powerful new techniques to solve even this case. She tries to do so as follows:

She notes that numerical calculations show that the solution is well approximated by a simple trig function. (The figures are evidence in support of this assertion.) She then bounds the number of limit cycles, under this approximation, in a straightforward and elementary way. I have not carefully checked this bound, but I see no reason to doubt it (or to believe there's anything novel about it, for that matter). However, there is no attempt whatsoever at a rigorous justification of the approximation, or even a rigorous formulation of it. Therefore this simply does not constitute a full proof, although the article refers to it as a proof. Hilbert's 16th problem is already well understood in simple cases, and any attempt to reduce the more complex cases to simple cases must justify all approximations.

Incidentally, if this were an important theoretical paper on Hilbert's 16th problem, the journal "Nonlinear analysis" would be a strange place for it (it's more interdisciplinary, and is not a mainstream outlet for theoretical mathematics). That's no reason it couldn't be true, but it's some cause for initial suspicion as well as explanation for why the article was accepted. Probably the editors and referees were applied scientists unfamiliar with the problem, who were perfectly happy to accept an approximation justified by some numerical data.

Re:Context

[wrinkledshirt]

To get the full text of the article you must apparently have a subscription of pay a $30 fee.

$30?!? For that much I'd better get the hot swedish mathematician herself explaining it to me over my shoulder with nice perfume and wearing one of those push-up bras which are visible because she hasn't done up all the buttons on her shirt...

Okay. $50, and that's my final offer.

Fine. $75. But I get her for the whole hour!

Re:Context

[Brane]

What is even more stricking is that it's coming from a woman.

While we are on the topic of Scandinavian female matematicians, there is an interview in New Scientist with Norwegian mathematics professor Ragni Piene where she discusses why there are so few women mathematicians.

Re:Context

[Anonymous Coward]

I have written a letter to the Journal.

Dear Editors of Nonlinear Analysis,
Probably, this was not meant to be so, but the paper by Elin Oxenhielm, on the 16-th Hilbert problem, to be published soon in 'Nonlinear Analysis' has caused an 'unhealthy' publicity here in Sweden, in various media. I have downloaded the paper and I have a very strong feeling that it was a heavy mistake to publish it in such a respectable journal.
What is the method of the proof? The author, considering a nonlinear system, supposes that the solutions are
'dominated by a harmonic term of a specific order'
without defining the word 'dominated', and, from what follows later, meaning simply that this is a good approximation, whithout specifying how good approximation is.
Then the author substitutes this approximation into the equation, neglects the terms she does not like and, by considering the remaining terms, declares her statement proved. This lies far below generally accepted methematical standards of proof, since no estimates of the influence of the deleted terms on the behavior of the trajectories are made. Instead of this, the author writes, without any justifications, that the 'method' enables one to study the structure of limit circles in most general situation.

I give my humble advice to the Editors of 'Nonlinear Analysis'
to re-consider the decision on publication of the article by Elin Oxenhielm.

Re:Context

[Anonymous Coward]

How can these things happen? Not only the referees at Nonlinear Analysis did not check the paper (or perhaps they regarded it as "applied mathematics"). But equally seriously, there must be some professor at Stockholm University letting this pass? Incomprehensible!

Re:Context

[Anonymous Coward]

I completely agree with you!

Re:Context

[Anonymous Coward]

You see,
she has a superviser who is in applications, had her Master's thesis is some particular diff. equation system in something like biology, made some numerical calculations, and she has never shown het text to anything of importance.
She seems even not to know difference between a mathematical proof and numerical simulation.

Application?

[Doc Ruby]

Yes, Elin might have solved Hilbert Q16 for "fun", or to keep her gradstudent job. But now that we have her solution (partial though it is), how can we use it? Hilbert "spaces" are important to the 20th century topology insights that quantum mechanics uses, therefore to our worldview, as well as technology. What can we do with the topology in a proof of Q16?

Huh?

[autopr0n]

What computer problems did they accenentaly solve? Jobs and Gates started companies, and Woz built a computer that did what it was supposed to do.

Not like she'd have any problems anyway

[autopr0n]

did you see the pic? She's friggn' hot. I doubt she has any trouble finding willing sexual partners...

Huffman coding is not minimaly redundant

[autopr0n]

Huffman coding is not minimaly redundant, because you always need at least one bit per symbol. If more then 50% of a signal is one symbol, it's wasteful. There's an encoding out there that lets you use less then a bit, but I forget.

Re:Huffman coding is not minimaly redundant

[mcp33p4n75]

Arithmetic coding?

if you got this far

[Anonymous Coward]

youve read 300 posts about how attractive this math chick is, one that disputed that anything was even acomplished, and about 52 that argue that people should be discussing the math.

no you will never find out what this problem is, or what any of this means.

arn't you...

[annisette]

one of the guys on Myth Busters?

Cute and Smart?

[blanks]

Shes cute, I wounder if she can solve blanks first problem.....

Re:SECKS

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm sorry for breaking it to you this way but,
She Has Jay Leno's Chin !!!!

Re:SECKS

[Anonymous Coward]

Oh man! You guys mod the parent offtopic for saying she's ugly while modding +5 all the morons who say she's hot.

Way to go slashdot!

(Attempted) explanation of Hilbert's 16th

[kevinatilusa]

Reading Hilbert's lecture and a couple other sources, here is what I THINK Hilbert is asking in his 16th problem. Take this with a grain of salt.

The first part of Hilbert's 16th problem asks about the relative number and position of the components of a curve of order n. In other words, if we look at the graph of an equation of nth degree in the plane, what might the graph look like? We can describe it fairly easily for small n.

If n=1, the first order equations are precisely the linear ones, so the curve always consists of a single unbounded component (the straight line).

If n=2, the general equation of the 2nd order is Ax^2+Bxy+Cy^2+Dx+Ey+F=0, also known as the equation of a conic section. Depending on the coefficients, the graph will be a point, a line, a parabola, two intersecting lines, an ellipse, or a hyperbola. Geometrically, all of the cases but the last are only a single component. Therefore an equation of the second order has at most two branches. When there are two branches, they both are unbounded.

The case n=3 is much more complicated, and involves the study of what are known as elliptic curves. Beyond that, it just gets worse.

What Hilbert wished to have investigated was the geometry of the branches in the case of the curves with the most branches. As it turns out, you can't just have any orientation. If n=6, for example, the greatest number of branches is 11, but if the curve has 11 branches then one of the branches will always lie completely inside another branch. The 16th problem asks what similar restrictions are required for other n, and what happens if we look in higher dimensions than the plane.

A related problem that Hilbert referred to in his problem was that of curves defined by differential equations instead of polynomials. Here the objects of interest are boundary cycles of first order (featuring no derivatives higher than the first) differential equations. I have not encountered this term before, but if I had to guess I would say a boundary cycle was a closed, limiting path of a function satisfying the differential equation (so, for example, a boundary cycle of the second-order differential equation given by gravitation would be a planet's orbit after it is sucked in the system). The same sort of question is asked: how could these cycles be placed relative to one another in the plane? It is this question that may have been answered by the student in the article.

Re:hot? cute?

[Anonymous Coward]

Were? What...you mean the rest of you guys still don't look like that? Oh...erm...yeah. Me neither.

:: flexes biceps ::

Could have been worse.

[Anonymous Coward]

The fourth link could have been to goatse.

Depends On The Job, Methinks

[bettiwettiwoo]

The only reason it happens is because they don't have to get JOBS.

You know, I really think that might depend mostly on the job.

I am married to a mathematician. After receiving his PhD he went to work within academe ... and drowned in all that 'peripheral' work which is only ever mentioned en passant but which has a tendency to take up the lion's share of your time, work and leisure equally: preparation of lectures and seminars; markings of essays, course work and exams; tutorials; therapeutic talks with students; etc etc. The only time, if any, for research was during vacations. (And he wasn't alone in that: most of his collegues only ever seemed to get some research done when away from work.)

However, some 12 months ago he quit academe for private business ... and has since almost finished one paper and is starting to think about the next one. Research-wise, that probably makes these past 12 months some of his most productive ever.

So ... there are jobs and jobs. Possibly: if you hate what you're doing (job-wise) or if what you're doing is taking up all of your time or is completely draining all your emotional/physical/mental/whatever resources, then it's probably damned hard to focus and do any kind of research.

However, be that as it may, I also think it is a little bit over-simplistic to disparage anyone for coming up with a brilliant idea while just lazing around not gainfully employed. I read somewhere that Goedel came up with some of his best ideas while at a sex romp in the Austrian alps. That doesn't make those ideas any worse, now does it?!

Norwegians, Swedes Vs Danes

[bettiwettiwoo]

It[']s [N]orwegians and [S]wedes against [D]anes.

Absolutely!

Danish is not a language, it's a speech impediment. Denmark is not a country, it's just a place God forgot. The only good Dane ...

Re:Norwegians, Swedes Vs Danes

[Hannes Eriksson]

Somehow it seems that people in the southern parts of Sweden (close to Denmark) and in the north-west of Germany (also close to Denmark) have a tendency to share that same speech impediment. It once occured to me that it might be something with the fact that Denmark in its entirety has sprung from the sea floor.

Re:Norwegians, Swedes Vs Danes

[bettiwettiwoo]

It once occured to me that it might be something with the fact that Denmark in its entirety has sprung from the sea floor.

Thereby crippling the speech organs of an entire enclave (the so-called Danes and pseudo-Danes) of the European population? Interesting theory.

Clever though she was....

[Anonymous Coward]

Clever though she was, Elin didn't account for the effects of gravity.

Elin Oxenhielm

[Sindri]

Her homepage has a hig res version of her picture. ;)

Re:Elin Oxenhielm

[Anonymous Coward]

Hello 'Math Babes 2004' Calendar!

Who else...

[Anonymous Coward]

...first read "Swedisch Student PARTY solves 16th Hilbert Problem" and imagined a really wild party including young, hot, blonde... Man, now you can't even read slashdot anymore without... these... thoughts...

Where else can I turn?!? ;)

more swedish girls

[Anonymous Coward]

she's not cute. here are some cute swedish girls

MOD PARENT UP !

[Anonymous Coward]

The comment clarifies the whole issue.

Damm I never get invites to parties like that

[Grizzlysmit]

Damm why don't I ever get invites to parties like that, you know with girls that solve hilbert problems, seriously that sounds like my kind of party fun, booze chic's and maths what more could a maths geek ask for.

Re:Damm I never get invites to parties like that

[Grizzlysmit]

oops I miss read partly not party, oh well still a real cool chic

The Night train to Stockholm.

[Artifakt]

What an amazing coincidence. I've just been waiting for a solution to the second half of Hilbert's 16th problem to be able start construction of the first transatlantic tunnel, featureing all transparent aluminum construction to allow seeing into other cars.

Elin's phone number...

[rasteroid]

is on her website. We are really a big bunch of nerds on Slashdot. We talk about how hot and sexy Elin is, but nobody actually calls her up :)

But Why

[Anonymous Coward]

I don't think the question is so much as what is the answer to the problem(s) but more like why do we feel the need to answer these questions?

What is the net result of solving these 'problems' and what is the practical application?

Re:But Why

[DirkDaring]

Why did you feel the need to post as Anonymous Coward?

the blame goes to....

[Wah]

...deep linking.

Go here, follow the right path, and you would know it was true before you read the story.

damn

[Anonymous Coward]

Now if only I could figure out how to call that crazy-looking 9 digit phone number of hers....

She is good but not right.

[Anonymous Coward]

Here writing a Mathematics Ph.D. student. I am making my thesis on 16th Hilbert problem and I have read Elin's article. Her idea is very good, extremely good, but there is a mistake (she does not prove that the rest of harmonics can be "forgotten", so, there may occur a lack of convergence).

I fell very bad, because this is an error of the publishing system. Nowadays, there are over 30 PUBLISHED articles saying to having solved part of 16th Hilbert problem, but they are all fake. I cannot understand how referees can pass through this kind of things... and editors!?

In any case, if Elin reads this, or somebody who knows her read this, please tell her that the idea was very fruitful. It may be applied to know more about this difficult problem. If you are interested in the problem, good references may be the following books (I write the authors): Ye Yian Qian et al. (Qualitative theory...), Perko, Arnold (any of them), ...

she IS cute and SMART and this is a rarity

[mr.Spike (edd sonic)]

Well i find her to be not-so-baad. And before yelling here about ("i'd hit her" or "i'd do her"), i would first talk to her, and estimate her intellgence and interests.

i'm sure she might be extremely interesting and smart.


Just wanted to tell something good, in case if she, herself, gots there and finds all this mud about doing and hitting

I'm sure i wouldn't find it to be very pleasant. Also we should note that girls are subject to cry whenever possible, and reading most of these coment's might be cause of that.

Horny geeks

[Anonymous Coward]

I think it is safe to say that most Slashdotters would consider anything that breaths to be cute enough to have sex with.

Re:Horny geeks

[Patrik_AKA_RedX]

Now be honest: You were hoping on getting that goatse.cx link again, didin't you?

Guys! My website www.oxenhielm.com ...

[Anonymous Coward]

... will be released soon! I will publish some hot new photos there...

Elin Oxenhielm

And even...

[Anonymous Coward]

Something that WAS breathing 10 minutes ago

BBC News Article

[physman]

BBC news article - with links to hilberts lecture, etc..

The 1st one isn't really pretty...

[Anonymous Coward]

I don't know why you all are considering pretty this girl; she's averagy, kinda ugly maybe... ...definitly I rather the last one to the first one. No joke.

Re:SECKS

[Anonymous Coward]

Brilliant!

Oxenhielm's adviser speaks

[19usc2462bH]

Yishao Zhou, Elin Oxenhielm's adviser, has a new web page about Elin Oxenhielm's work on the second part of Hilbert's 16th problem where he states that In my opinion the paper is incomplete and includes serious mistakes, which I think any educated mathematician can easily see. and that he placed too much faith in the referee system and that It is most unfortunate that the journal accepted the manuscript ...

The Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten has a story called Landmark 'proof' under heavy fire.