4 ms·

Hmmm, I wonder how word got out about the proof. That seems to be the big issue.

• anshul 17y ago
  Pure mathematicians generally do not like secrecy. It would be just too childish to keep such a word to oneself. They also know well to not assume the result as proved until a refereed journal confirms it. All that would have happened if the word got out to NYT would be a PR mess about which the mathematical community couldn't care less.
  • corecirculator 17y ago
    Isn't it generalizing too much? Andrew Wiles worked on Fermat's last theorem for 7 yrs in secret, nobody even knew he was working on it until he published the results.
    • gchpaco 17y ago
      Wiles is widely regarded as odd, to put it mildly, for that effort. And it still didn't work and he had to get a former student in to help fix the proof.
  • jsomers 17y ago
    That seems true in general, but it's still dangerous to declare that you're working on a famous problem (P!=NP, 3n+1, Riemann); it's something you keep to yourself until you've made serious progress.