P != NP
Big news this Sunday was a paper released that claims to be a serious proof on the P = NP problem. Big enough to bring me out of livejournal limbo for at least a day. It's a draft paper by Vinay Deolalikar, and I think it's been pulled for the moment while they are addressing some typographic errors and some incorrect methods in the paper, but its yet to been definitively shot down.
A Proof that P != NP
Here's an update from today with some of the various issues with the paper.
Issues with the Proof
Either way, this is really interesting news. It's one of the Millennium Prize Problems, each of which have a 1 million USD reward for solving, but the implications of solving these very difficult problems are even more interesting. The last one solved was the Poincaré conjecture, which was solved by the angry genius Grigoriy Perelman, who still remains disenchanted with the mathematics community. Perelman turned down the million dollar prize. Also, a Fields medal.
A proof that P != NP is not quite as world changing as the other way around. If it's true, the most immediate consequence will probably be cryptographers around the world going out for beers in celebration.
A Proof that P != NP
Here's an update from today with some of the various issues with the paper.
Issues with the Proof
Either way, this is really interesting news. It's one of the Millennium Prize Problems, each of which have a 1 million USD reward for solving, but the implications of solving these very difficult problems are even more interesting. The last one solved was the Poincaré conjecture, which was solved by the angry genius Grigoriy Perelman, who still remains disenchanted with the mathematics community. Perelman turned down the million dollar prize. Also, a Fields medal.
A proof that P != NP is not quite as world changing as the other way around. If it's true, the most immediate consequence will probably be cryptographers around the world going out for beers in celebration.