A Texas banker with a knack for numbers has
offered $1 million for whoever can solve a complex
math equation that has stumped mathematicians
since the 1980s.
Dallas banker D. Andrew "Andy" Beal, who in 1997
established a $5,000 prize for solving his
namesake equation, the Beal Conjecture number
theory problem, has upped the ante in hopes of
inspiring young people to pursue math, the
Associated Press reports.
"Increasing the prize is a good way to draw
attention to mathematics generally and the Beal
Conjecture specifically," he said in a statement . "I
hope many more young people will find themselves
drawn into the wonderful world of mathematics."
The Beal Conjecture states that the only solutions to
the equation A^x + B^y = C^z, when A, B and C are
positive integers, and x, y and z are positive
integers greater than two, are those in which A, B
and C have a common factor. The American
Mathematical Society in Providence, Rhode Island,
said that typical of many statements in number
theory, they're "easy to say but extremely difficult
to prove."
To earn the Beal Prize , participants have two years
to submit a solution or counterexample. The
proposed solution must be published in a reputable
mathematics publication, while the counterexample
is subject to independent verification, the American
Mathematical Society said.
In 1995, a similar math problem, Fermat's Last
Theorem, was proved by Andrew Wiles and Richard
Taylor -- more than 350 years after it was written,
Britain's Telegraph reports.
Now, the longest-standing math problem is
Goldbach's Conjecture, posed by the Russian
mathematician in 1742, according to the Guinness
Book of World Records. The theorem states that
every even positive integer greater than three is the
sum of two prime numbers.
The Beal Conjecture isn't the first math problem
whose solution was tied to a big cash prize.
In 2000, the Clay Mathematics Institute in
Cambridge, Mass., allocated seven $1 million prizes
for problems now known as Millennium Problems.
Several years later, one of the problems, the
Poincaré Conjecture, was solved by the Russian
mathematician Grigori Perelman, who reportedly
refused to accept the prize.
What are u waiting for that solving
No comments:
Post a Comment