A Former Subway Worker Made a Breakthrough Discovery in Math

[Architect]

Sounds like an INTP, or at least is living the INTP dream

Unheralded Mathematician Bridges the Prime Gap

 

[Cognisant]

A pity it has no known use.

Then again I'm sure somebody is figuring that out right now.

 

[Duxwing]

Sounds like an INTP, or at least is living the INTP dream

Unheralded Mathematician Bridges the Prime Gap

Deep theoretical problem, ages of study and research, repaid by a permanent footnote in the annals? An INTP in his element: every function online.

-Duxwing

 

[kvothe27]

This is fantastic. Thank you for posting this.

 

[walfin]

“If you can go back and take a look, his skill level was probably there from the beginning. But no one ever noticed.” (Kobe Bryant on Jeremy Lin)

When this chap was working at Starbucks he already had a PhD. Way to go, INTP.

Oh, I suppose one use might be making it easier to find the two prime numbers needed for RSA keys, given that there's now a finite upper bound for the distance between two primes.

 

[TheScornedReflex]

Wooo! At least someone is edging forward in the prime number debacle.

 

[pjoa09]

Kinda sad.

He couldn't get a job he wanted even though he has a doctorate from Purdue.

 

[Architect]

Kinda sad.

He couldn't get a job he wanted even though he has a doctorate from Purdue.

Sounds like he got it now.

He's the Einstein of the 21st century; working a subway job this time instead of the patent office.

 

[Valentas]

Yes, the guy is superb. I read about this yesterday. Is there a proof somewhere on the Internet?

 

[pjoa09]

Sounds like he got it now.

He's the Einstein of the 21st century; working a subway job this time instead of the patent office.

I guess a job as an accountant kept him less miserable.

I tried studying while I was working. It's really damn hard. Work constantly spills into study time and burnouts at work could just wash it all off for months.

 

[Architect]

I guess a job as an accountant kept him less miserable.

I tried studying while I was working. It's really damn hard. Work constantly spills into study time and burnouts at work could just wash it all off for months.

Yeah, this is really tough. I work a full time job and go home for my own patent job side projects. The important thing is to keep at it, day after day (it WILL take years). You will discover ways to make it happen.

 

[pjoa09]

Yeah, this is really tough. I work a full time job and go home for my own patent job side projects. The important thing is to keep at it, day after day (it WILL take years). You will discover ways to make it happen.

Now I feel like a lazy bum. I cheated, I halfway quit my job. I guess I did find a way to make it happen.

Your full time job isn't satisfying? Mind sharing the side projects briefly?


I'd love to have the life of the guy in Law Abiding Citizen without all the traumatic events and stuff. Just his toys and gadgets.

 

[walfin]

Sounds like he got it now.

He's the Einstein of the 21st century; working a subway job this time instead of the patent office.

Kinda scary to think that the next Einstein might have to work an even worse job than Subway.

 

[Vrecknidj]

As significant as this result is, it doesn't put him in the same league with Einstein. He'll have to make some more (and more significant) contributions to do that.

That said, this *is* a big deal.

 

[BigApplePi]

Thanks for the reference Architect. I knew about the conjecture of infinitely many prime pairs ever since I was a child. Do you guys know there are NO prime triplets? Zero! Can you prove it? I have one. -2, 0, 2 is not allowed.

 

[Wolf18]

I haven't learned a whole lot of maths yet, but why isn't 3, 5, 7 a prime triplet?

SW

 

[semicolon]

Apart from 3, 5, 7 there aren't any more (considering positive integers only). Consider the triplet p, p+2, p+4. One of them has to be divisible by 3 (because p+4=p+1 mod 3). If that number is not 3 itself then it cannot be prime.

 

[Wolf18]

Apart from 3, 5, 7 there aren't any more (considering positive integers only). Consider the triplet p, p+2, p+4. One of them has to be divisible by 3 (because p+4=p+1 mod 3). If that number is not 3 itself then it cannot be prime.

Yes, of course. BigApplePi confused me because he said there were none. Thanks for the clarification.

SW

 

[BigApplePi]

I haven't learned a whole lot of maths yet, but why isn't 3, 5, 7 a prime triplet?

SW

Holy cow! I made a mistake, lol. That IS a prime triplet, but there are no others.

 

[BigApplePi]

Apart from 3, 5, 7 there aren't any more (considering positive integers only). Consider the triplet p, p+2, p+4. One of them has to be divisible by 3 (because p+4=p+1 mod 3). If that number is not 3 itself then it cannot be prime.

Thanks semicolon. You win the tricolon prize.

 

[semicolon]

Cheers!

... now there's six of me. What do I do with these things