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Mathematicians have found a new upper limit to the Ramsey number

quantamagazine.org

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Re: Mathematicians have found a new upper limit to the Ramsey number

#41

Post by tecleandor »

geodel wrote: post #36
sfink wrote: post #25

Heh. I was not prepared for the punchline that this "only" goes from 4^k to 3.993^k. I mean, they're creating a whole new form of proof that will almost certainly allow further decreases, and they generously aren't holding back until they make a bigger dent, but it just intuitively feels like the true value has got to be way, way smaller. (On a side note, I am so often stunned by the quality of articles on Quanta Mag…

> I sorta thought this type of quality writing was dead and gone from the freely accessible web It is working because its funded by Hedge fund founder billionaire/mathematician and they are not looking for subscription revenues (yet).

Oh, I didn't notice it's Jim Simmons's. I saw his opening lecture at 2014's ICM in Seoul, before the Fields Medals. There were lots of questions about how to make money, even when he previously stated that he wouldn't answer any of those.

Re: Mathematicians have found a new upper limit to the Ramsey number

#42

Post by NooneAtAll3 »

stronglikedan wrote: post #28
sfink wrote: post #25

Heh. I was not prepared for the punchline that this "only" goes from 4^k to 3.993^k. I mean, they're creating a whole new form of proof that will almost certainly allow further decreases, and they generously aren't holding back until they make a bigger dent, but it just intuitively feels like the true value has got to be way, way smaller. (On a side note, I am so often stunned by the quality of articles on Quanta Mag…

> Quanta Magazine Their YT videos are also top notch.

are we talking about the same YT channel?

the one I looked at had overly-pretentious zooms and panning, while almost no actual info

Re: Mathematicians have found a new upper limit to the Ramsey number

#43

Post by NooneAtAll3 »

geodel wrote: post #36
sfink wrote: post #25

Heh. I was not prepared for the punchline that this "only" goes from 4^k to 3.993^k. I mean, they're creating a whole new form of proof that will almost certainly allow further decreases, and they generously aren't holding back until they make a bigger dent, but it just intuitively feels like the true value has got to be way, way smaller. (On a side note, I am so often stunned by the quality of articles on Quanta Mag…

> I sorta thought this type of quality writing was dead and gone from the freely accessible web It is working because its funded by Hedge fund founder billionaire/mathematician and they are not looking for subscription revenues (yet).

did it change from a year ago?

for the last 1-1,5 years quality of explanations in quanta's publications had been aaawful - with situation improving to the previous level only a month or so ago

I don't think funding source is the main explanation for quality (tho maybe for _ability_ to have quality)

Re: Mathematicians have found a new upper limit to the Ramsey number

#44

Post by [deleted] »

sfink wrote: post #25

Heh. I was not prepared for the punchline that this "only" goes from 4^k to 3.993^k. I mean, they're creating a whole new form of proof that will almost certainly allow further decreases, and they generously aren't holding back until they make a bigger dent, but it just intuitively feels like the true value has got to be way, way smaller. (On a side note, I am so often stunned by the quality of articles on Quanta Mag…

[deleted]

Re: Mathematicians have found a new upper limit to the Ramsey number

#45

Post by adrianN »

baidifnaoxi wrote: post #38

Im not a mathematician, but does this have potential application in some Neural Networks and such where dangerous connections or isolated information flows could exist?

One of the key aspects of Ramsey theory is that is has basically no potential applications because the objects it talks about have trouble fitting in the observable universe.

Re: Mathematicians have found a new upper limit to the Ramsey number

#46

Post by IceMichael »

throw_pm23 wrote: post #29
IceMichael wrote: post #22

I get that this is really interesting and I surely enjoyed the read... But has it really any practical implications? I mean, in a sense, there are so many mathematical riddles... Anyways, I'm fine to ignore this question. Very nice!

Before someone jumps at you for daring to ask this question... yes, there are many many math riddles, and indeed not all are equally important, and we may not always know in advance which ones are. Some turn out to be more "productive" in the sense of leading to development of techniques, connections to other fields, etc. Ramsey theory (the riddle discussed in the article) is one of these, here is just a short list o…

Interesting, thank you!
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