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As a former mathematician, I found it quite entertaining :-) Plus, not only I would not find absurd the claim that a proof is simply "an argument that convince
by pathsjs 11y ago
As a former mathematician, I found it quite entertaining :-)
Plus, not only I would not find absurd the claim that a proof is simply "an argument that convinces someone who knows the subject." I actually agree with it!
For an egregious example, look at Perelman proof of Poincaré conjecture. According to a few experts, it is a complete proof, and it is just a matter of sketching out the details. According to Yau, it is more like a plan of attack, and the actual proof is due to his students.
We are talking about two field medalists talking about one of the most famous problems in mathematics and disagreeing whether something constitutes a proof
- dkural 11y agoYau is wrong. Perelman proved it just fine. Hamilton made the plan of attack. Perelman executed it. Mere mortals could finally follow the argument, Yau & his students transparently tried to steal credit from a man who doesn't care for formal recognition.
- pathsjs 11y agoI did not check it myself, so I cannot tell, but this is what I have heard most often. Still, it was just to highlight the fact that there is a certain degree of subjectiveness when evaluating whether something constitutes a proof