The 23 Toughest Math Questions

coondoggie sends in a Network World post that begins "It sounds like a math phobic's worst nightmare or perhaps Good Will Hunting for the ages. Those wacky folks at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency have put out a research request it calls Mathematical Challenges, that has the mighty goal of 'dramatically revolutionizing mathematics and thereby strengthening DoD's scientific and technological capabilities.' The challenges are in fact 23 questions that, if answered, would offer a high potential for major mathematical breakthroughs, DARPA said." Some of the questions overlap with the Millennium Prize Problems of the Clay Mathematics Institute, which each carry a $1M prize.

Comments

Bobby Heenan Said It Best...

[Notquitecajun]

(Rough quote, probably not quite all the way accurate).

Schiavone: The answer is easy as two plus two!

Heenan: Five!

Schiavone: Two plus two is FOUR, Bobby...

Heenan: Not if you get the deal...

Re:I have a challenge for the DoD:

[morgan_greywolf]

The original source

Oh, wait...you meant something else, didn't you?

Re:Here's a toughy

[kklein]

4. Will the entire economy go belly-up because some whiny voters who don't understand that this is a financially extinction-level event decide to get all moralistic instead of being pragmatic and fixing it, while making sure it can't happen again, like the liquidity trap of the Great Depression and the S&L fracas can't happen again?

Answer: Yes.