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An unresolved 160 - year - sure-enough math trouble may in the end have a solution — but critics are wary .
Michael Atiyah , a prominent mathematician emeritus at the University of Edinburgh , announced yesterday ( Sept. 24 ) at the Heidelberg Laureate Forum in Germany that he had come up with a wide-eyed cogent evidence to solve the Riemann conjecture .
The hypothesis was first put forth by German mathematician Bernhard Riemann in 1859.Prime numbers , or those whose only factors are 1 and itself — such as 2 , 3 , 5 and 7 — do n’t seem to conform to a unconstipated radiation diagram on the number line . In other words , you could n’t figure out when the next prime figure take place by know some blueprint . [ The 11 Most Beautiful Mathematical Equations ]
However , Riemann saw that the relative frequency of prime Book of Numbers apparently closely follows one equation that became know as the Riemann Zeta mathematical function , according to theClay Mathematics Institute . If the equation bind true , it would describe the distribution of quality numbers all the way toinfinity .
But as of now , it has been checked for only the first 10,000,000,000,000 resolution , according to the institute , and the job stay " unsolved . " The individual who solves the Riemann Zeta mapping , or one of the other six big whodunit in maths that make up the " Millennium Prize problem , " will get ahead an laurels of $ 1 million from the Institute .
Atiyah ’s proof is base on an unrelated cathartic phone number called the " fine structure constant , " which describes the electromagnetic interactions between charge particles , according toScience . He draw this constant using another equating called the Todd Function , to evidence the Riemann hypothesis by contradiction in terms , agree to Science . In math , contradiction is one eccentric of validation in which you take on that the " matter " you require to prove is false and then show how the results of this assumption are just not possible .
Atiyah , 89 , has made major contributions to math and aperient , gain top math awards — the Fields Medal in 1966 and the Abel Prize in 2004 . But in recent years he has also put forth some numerical proof that did n’t hold up — and now many of his confrere are critical of his new claim and say they ’re unlikely to book true , according to Science .
" The proof just stack one impressive claim on top of another without any connecting argument or material substantiation , " John Baez , a numerical physicist at the University of California , Riverside , tell Science .
In his talk of the town , Atiyah described the many , many metre citizenry have claimed to have proved the hypothesis , only to be prove incorrect . " Nobody trust any test copy of the Riemann possibility because it ’s so difficult , nobody has proved it , and so why should anybody turn out it now ? Unless , of course , you have a totally unexampled idea , " he say .
Originally publish onLive skill .
