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Teenager solves stubborn riddle about prime number look-alikes

quantamagazine.org

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Re: Teenager solves stubborn riddle about prime number look-alikes

#161

Post by [deleted] »

MikePlacid wrote: post #130
bumby wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I would rather guess that it is some genetic defect in the brain causing a person to prefer playing with abstract problems to booze They may not be as mutually exclusive as you think. I remember reading some research years ago that investigated the positive correlation between alcohol abuse and IQ. Their theory was that high IQ personalities seek novelty and that can manifest in chasing novel mental states.

That may be true, but my “living experience” is causing me to doubt it, heavily. I’ve seen a lot of guys - most of them more gifted than me in math (I actually switched to computer science after 2 years in university cause I fell in love with computers but math seemed too abstract to me) - so I’ve seen both brains and lives of these bright guys completely destroyed by alcohol abuse, completely destroyed, not an easy…

[deleted]

Re: Teenager solves stubborn riddle about prime number look-alikes

#162

Post by ok_dad »

strikelaserclaw wrote: post #137
swayvil wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's easy to be a genius. All you have to do is give 100% of your attention to your subject, indefinitely.

i mean achievement is at the intersection of luck, talent, and hard work. Knew several people with the raw iq to be great but these people would much rather spend their time doing mental puzzles.

Being “great” isn’t always necessary, plus I prefer being just great enough to support enjoying the short time I have with people I love.

Re: Teenager solves stubborn riddle about prime number look-alikes

#163

Post by sohkamyung »

renewiltord wrote: post #70
jll29 wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

By the way, if you don't like reading bulky proprietary PDFs, there is a trick: substitute the x in arxiv.org by the digit 5, and you will see the paper rendered in HTML5, e.g.: https://ar5iv.labs.arxiv.org/html/1910.06709 (great work by FAU Erlangen's Michael Kohlhase and team).

Good tip. I should have just linked the arxiv.org page for the article and not the PDF directly https://arxiv.org/abs/2111.06963

Interesting. Entering [ https://ar5iv.org/abs/2111.06963 ] also gives me the HTML render of the paper. Saves one step, since I don't have to fetch the PDF first. :-)

Re: Teenager solves stubborn riddle about prime number look-alikes

#164

Post by irrational »

peddling-brink wrote: post #149
Waterluvian wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Someone once told me, “comparison is the thief of joy.” I’m confident this is a famous quote. But once I heard it, it kept resonating. Then years later I watched Bluey with my kids and mom says, “just run your own race” and it all clicked. I’m so thankful that it clicked because I feel liberated from this self-imposed sense that I need to absolutely maximize my time here, which is an impossible task.

Bluey is a gem.

Have you seen the one where he tries to teach his children chess? Hilarity ensues.

Re: Teenager solves stubborn riddle about prime number look-alikes

#166

Post by nuclearnice1 »

khazhoux wrote: post #146
Waterluvian wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Someone once told me, “comparison is the thief of joy.” I’m confident this is a famous quote. But once I heard it, it kept resonating. Then years later I watched Bluey with my kids and mom says, “just run your own race” and it all clicked. I’m so thankful that it clicked because I feel liberated from this self-imposed sense that I need to absolutely maximize my time here, which is an impossible task.

> Someone once told me, “comparison is the thief of joy.” I've seen it phrased better elsewhere, but otherwise yes.

Feel free to share the better phrasing!

Re: Teenager solves stubborn riddle about prime number look-alikes

#167

Post by [deleted] »

jablongo wrote: post #94
ok_dad wrote: post #43

I knew a guy in high school that carried around a sub-compact notebook and one day in science class we were learning about how to factor quadratic equations (a review of old math we should know) and this guy was not paying attention at all, just typing away. The teacher asked him what he was doing that was so important that he couldn't listen, and to please come up and solve the problem. This kid walked straight up t…

> A computer program to factor any polynomial equation string input to it: Do you mean a program to solve for f(x) = 0 using numerical approximation? Factorization has a specific meaning and is not necessarily possible for quintic and higher-degree polynomials / there is no closed form solution like the quadratic formula for n>=5.

[deleted]

Re: Teenager solves stubborn riddle about prime number look-alikes

#168

Post by irrational »

r00fus wrote: post #86
RC_ITR wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Throughout high school, Kaczynski was ahead of his classmates academically. Placed in a more advanced mathematics class, he soon mastered the material. He skipped the eleventh grade, and by attending summer school he graduated at age 15. Kaczynski was one of his school's five National Merit finalists and was encouraged to apply to Harvard.[17] While still at age 15, he was accepted to Harvard and entered the univers…

For those who, like me, were wondering - this excerpt is from the Wikipedia page [1] about the Ted Kaczynski, aka the Unabomber. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ted_Kaczynski

Thank you. I couldn’t figure out who they were talking about.

Re: Teenager solves stubborn riddle about prime number look-alikes

#169

Post by irrational »

jetbooster wrote: post #123
Avicebron wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bards college at Simon's Rock did something like this. My friend went when he was 15ish. I used to visit during the summers and while the education was relatively accelerated, there are a host of other issues that don't often get brought up with this model.

Added bonus is they come out of it being able to cast 4 first level and 2 second level spells each day

It’s a Bard college. More likely they learned to play the lyre and sing ballads.

Re: Teenager solves stubborn riddle about prime number look-alikes

#170

Post by zem »

kevinventullo wrote: post #8
jklinger410 wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are 100% correct. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_J._Larsen

His mother is also a mathematician, and his uncle is a Fields Medalist. That said, I disagree with OP that this suggests his parents secretly did this work. Rather, it tells me that being surrounded by great mathematicians at a young age is going to foster success in those with raw talent much more effectively than, I dunno, attending some “gifted” program at a typical public school.

anyone who thinks a mathematician proved a result of this magnitude and decided to give credit to someone else does not know mathematicians very well!
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