The number of problems (23) and the relatively high-level phrasing is presumably a reference to Hilbert's problems. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hilbert%27s_p

The number of problems (23) and the relatively high-level phrasing is presumably a reference to Hilbert's problems. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hilbert%27s_problems https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hilbert%27s_problems Wikipedia notes that they "ranged greatly in topic and precision". :-)