Possible Proof of ABC Conjecture

submeta writes "Shinichi Mochizuki of Kyoto University has released a paper which claims to prove the decades-old ABC conjecture, which involves the relationship between prime numbers, addition, and multiplication. His solution involves thinking of numbers not as members of sets (the standard interpretation), but instead as objects which exist in 'new, conceptual universes.' As one would expect, the proof is extremely dense and difficult to understand, even for experts in the field, so it may take a while to verify. However, Mochizuki has a strong reputation, so this is likely to get attention. Proof of the conjecture could potentially lead to a revolution in number theory, including a greatly simplified proof of Fermat's Last Theorem."

Comments

Re:Linking to Wikipedia to explain math

[Anonymous Coward]

Don't do it. Ever.

Wikipedia math articles are essentially penis-measurement battles between editors who try to find the most obsucre and non-obvious manner to explain even simple arithmetic. Much like Fox News, Wikipedia math articles are bad for your brain.

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BMO

So what does watching MSNBC* do (to both viewers)? Prove you don't even have a brain?

* - Hey! Let's deliberately cut away from all non-white-male speakers at the Republican Convention! Then, irony of ironies, WE call THEM racists!