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There Are Infinitely Many Prime Twins

Posted by michael on from the so-the-theory-goes dept.

fustflum writes "R. F. Arenstorf from Vanderbilt University has presented a 38-page possible proof of the twin-prime conjecture using methods from classical analytic number theory. The paper is on arxiv.org and is freely available to the public. Twin primes are pairs of primes where both p and p + 2 are prime. "It is conjectured that there are an infinite number of twin primes ... but proving this remains one of the most elusive open problems in number theory." More information about twin primes can be found on Mathworld."

2 of 479 comments (clear)

  1. I think i speak for everyone when i say by Unregistered · · Score: 0, Redundant

    Who cares???

    Is there anything useful that could possibly come from proving that the number of twin primes is infinite? There are tons of smart people that waste time messing with this stuff that could be ding something benifitial to society. It's sad, really.

  2. One thing we'll never run short of... by rixstep · · Score: 0, Redundant

    ... is numbers. They're cheap. Dirt cheap. And no mathematician should be able to fool you into thinking otherwise.

    Sorry: this is like trying to prove that for every number n there will always be an n + 1 (or n + 2, or...).

    I've got better things to do with my time, and I wish other people had better things to do with tax money.

    Just imagine if Isaac Newton was sitting there under the tree in Cambridge and the apple fell and good old Isaac said:

    'I've got no time now! I'm working on my 38-page paper on prime numbers!'

    Yes, that would be very silly. Isaac would never say that. Not in a million light years.

    There's namely only one way to do the standing on the shoulders of Giants thing: you've got to find the right Giants, and you've got to have a more down-to-earth footing.

    And Giants don't like prime numbers. They hate 'em - with a passion. You can't eat 'em, you can't put 'em in the bank, you can't even bash humans on the head with 'em. Useless, bloody useless they are, like French Citroens with the steering wheel on the wrong side.

    I'll take the apples any day. At least they lead to something constructive, to build on. Or correct me if I am wrong: what possible benefit can this prime-ordial nonsense bring?

    Besides: Newton didn't get a grant to sit under a tree and let moldy fruit bounce off his noggin.