4 ms·
Fast on the heels of me gleefully noticing that the New York Times has apparently started linking to primary source material, we get a University that fails to
by archgoon 16y ago
Fast on the heels of me gleefully noticing that the New York Times has apparently started linking to primary source material, we get a University that fails to live up to the same standard (in an article that has a vested interest in having people actually read the article).
http://arxiv.org/PS_cache/arxiv/pdf/1011/1011.4105v1.pdf http://arxiv.org/PS_cache/arxiv/pdf/1011/1011.4105v1.pdf
Also, here is an post from the mathematician who solved it himself (from November of last year)
http://gilkalai.wordpress.com/2010/11/20/janos-pach-guth-and-katzs-solution-of-erdos-distinct-distances-problem/ http://gilkalai.wordpress.com/2010/11/20/janos-pach-guth-and...
For those who want a simple example of the sort of thing the problem is trying to solve, consider an equilateral triangle. There are 3 points, but only one distance between any pair of points. Consider a square, you have 4 points, but it looks like you are going to be forced to have at least two different distances (the nearest neighbor distance, and the diagonal distance). In general, given n points (placed however we wish), what's the minimal number of distances?