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Has The Poincare Conjecture Been Solved?
Zack Coburn writes "An article in the Boston Globe alludes to the Poincare Conjecture being solved, possibly. For those who are unfamiliar with the conjecture, the article gives a brief description: "To solve it, one would have to prove something that no one seriously doubts: that, just as there is only one way to bend a two-dimensional plane into a shape without holes -- the sphere -- there is likewise only one way to bend three-dimensional space into a shape that has no holes. Though abstract, the conjecture has powerful practical implications: Solve it and you may be able to describe the shape of the universe." Apparently Grigory Perelman may have proved it, which would mean a $1 million award from the Clay Mathematics Institute." We've previously discussed other possible Poincare proofs.
But I've been too busy trying to get first post to tell someone. I wonder how many other huge discoveries are stopped by the same problem. It's a good thing Einstein didn't have Slashdot.
welcome our new topological overlord.
Let me guess.. he says that the new topological object is universe-shaped?
Karma: SELECT `karma` FROM `users` WHERE `userid`=138474;
I was planning on proving it for my Phd Thesis... :/
Now, what am I supposed to talk about ?
Yes but Godel showed that you never do it completely.
> In 2002, I researched the COSMIC background
Yeah, lots of people do that in college... Usually with the help of LSD and stuff.
Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade
"(First off, remember that us MATHEMATICANS DO IT SMOOTHLY AND CONTINUOUSLY.)"
They also DO IT with GRATUITOUS USE of CAPITAL LETTERS! Lay off the shift key!
Man, who let Shatner have the keyboard?
Well, it's a hard problem. If it was an easy problem, then it would have been solved.
You might say that it's an NP hard problem. Hahah. *crickets* Oh well.
My other car is first.
Seen this exact post before.
Holy groundhog, Batman! Slashdot posts are stuck in an infinite hyper-toroid loop!
Table-ized A.I.
I'm so drunk I can't s up strait and we're asking if some mathematical conjecture has been proved? Is this really the right storey for New Years Eve? Lets go with stories about things that are bright and shiny.
I do security
What's really important is that this proof was put out by a reclusive Russian mathematician. That pretty much clinches it.
In his case, it's all imaginary.
One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
Just what is this "dorking," and why do it to a donut?
But seriously. You're not following along. When you loop back the two openings to touch each other, you get a tube, just like a donut.
I heard Al Gore solved this years ago.
John Kerry is a Joke!
Come on, what's all this science crap? Let's get back to rumor and innuendo.
Pure mathematicians don't do it, they leave it as an exercise to the reader.
Applied mathematicians do it with a real-world model.
I have a proof of Poincare's Conjecture, but it is too big to fit in the margins of this Slashdot post.
Did you hear about the constipated mathematician?
He worked it out with a pencil.
When you look at the state of the world, how can you not become a radical, liberal anarchist?
From the article:
Even in mathematical circles, surprisingly little is known about him, and those who know him often don't want to speak publicly about his work.
Oh boy. People who know him won't talk about his work. That means bad news, I'm sure. Like... the proof solves the Poincare Conjecture, but as a byproduct it also proves that Cthulhu's going to wake up in 2005, and that he's really pissed.