Vegas & The Aftermath - Diary

[kinboshi]

For lovers of Nature, &, err, Mathematics, ONLY.

This clip is 5 minutes long, & ends with a question by David Attenborough, about a natural phenomona. And the answer can be found in, of all places, David Singh's excellent tome "Fermat's Last Theorem". Maths & Nature are amazingly intertwined, it seems.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjLiWy2nT7U

Short-form proof of Fermat's Last Theorem can be found here:  http://www.fermatproof.com/

If someone can explain that to me please...

That isn't Andrew Wiles's proof.

I specialised in number theory in my degree, but quite frankly I can't be bothered to check this one to see if it's correct.

He may actually be right that it could be similar to the one Fermat had in mind but that doesn't necessarily mean that it's right.

In the absence of any academic rigour analysing this proof, I'm not really going to bother reading it in any detail.

Wikipedia has a little about it which is more interesting - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fermats_Last_Theorem#Mathematics_of_the_theorem_and_its_proof

No, it certainly isn't Andrew Wiles's proof.  I read about 5 words of that and was completely lost. 

[RED-DOG]

For lovers of Nature, &, err, Mathematics, ONLY.

This clip is 5 minutes long, & ends with a question by David Attenborough, about a natural phenomona. And the answer can be found in, of all places, David Singh's excellent tome "Fermat's Last Theorem". Maths & Nature are amazingly intertwined, it seems.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjLiWy2nT7U

Truly astonishing.

Fermat's Last Theorem is alas quite beyond me, although I would like someone to explain, in simple terms, the answer to the riddle of the Cicada and it's amazing 17 year life cycle.

For me, one of the very few benefits of being human is having the ability to wonder at the diversity and complexity of our world and, indeed, our universe.

[AndrewT]

Fermat's Last Theorem is alas quite beyond me, although I would like someone to explain, in simple terms, the answer to the riddle of the Cicada and it's amazing 17 year life cycle.

Essentially, it's to do with the cicada avoiding coming out of the ground when there are things that like to eat cicadas around. Because 17 is a prime number it makes it far less likely that something which likes to eat cicadas will be able to synchronise its own cycle to come out at the same time. If the cicada was every 15 years, say, then things which worked on three or five year cycles would be able to match the cicadas and be around to eat them. There are some specis of cicada which work off a 13 year cycle instead, and the same theory applies here, cos 13 is a prime number as well.

[RED-DOG]

Fermat's Last Theorem is alas quite beyond me, although I would like someone to explain, in simple terms, the answer to the riddle of the Cicada and it's amazing 17 year life cycle.

Essentially, it's to do with the cicada avoiding coming out of the ground when there are things that like to eat cicadas around. Because 17 is a prime number it makes it far less likely that something which likes to eat cicadas will be able to synchronise its own cycle to come out at the same time. If the cicada was every 15 years, say, then things which worked on three or five year cycles would be able to match the cicadas and be around to eat them. There are some specis of cicada which work off a 13 year cycle instead, and the same theory applies here, cos 13 is a prime number as well.

OK. That makes sense so far, something that breeds every 3,4,5 or 6 years etc could not time their cycle to feed on the cicadas, and 17 is a horrible number of years to wait for your dinner.

If you wouldn't mind going back basics with me though (I missed this bit at school) What exactly is a prime number?

[Ecosse]

It's any number that is only dividable by 1 and itself. (and remains a whole number)

There's an ongoing quest to find the largest prime number.

The current largest prime has 12978189 digits in it.

[RED-DOG]

It's any number that is only dividable by 1 and itself. (and remains a whole number)

There's an ongoing quest to find the largest prime number.

The current largest prime has 12978189 digits in it.

I don't get it. Why can't you dvide 16 by 1 and itself?

[Jon MW]

It's any number that is only dividable by 1 and itself. (and remains a whole number)

There's an ongoing quest to find the largest prime number.

The current largest prime has 12978189 digits in it.

I don't get it. Why can't you dvide 16 by 1 and itself?

only 1 and itself

[Ecosse]

It's any number that is only dividable by 1 and itself. (and remains a whole number)

There's an ongoing quest to find the largest prime number.

The current largest prime has 12978189 digits in it.

I don't get it. Why can't you dvide 16 by 1 and itself?

16 is not a prime number because it is dividable by 2, 4 and 8, leaving a whole number in each case.

17 cannot be divided by any number apart from 1.

[RED-DOG]

It's any number that is only dividable by 1 and itself. (and remains a whole number)

There's an ongoing quest to find the largest prime number.

The current largest prime has 12978189 digits in it.

I don't get it. Why can't you dvide 16 by 1 and itself?

16 is not a prime number because it is dividable by 2, 4 and 8, leaving a whole number in each case.

17 cannot be divided by any number apart from 1.

Ahhh!

[Jon MW]

My degree dissertation was "The Use of Prime Numbers in Mathematics Through History", if I can find a copy I could link to it - it's a really interesting read. Honest.

It's sub title was, "A Brief History of Prime", although apparently I'm not the only one who has thought of this idea.

[Jon MW]

...

No, it certainly isn't Andrew Wiles's proof.  I read about 5 words of that and was completely lost. 

Yes, it is quite - errr - tricky.

Tick Box Summary
[ X ] I can understand Andrew Wiles's proof

[   ] I can 'do' Andrew Wiles's proof

[ X ] I could explain it

[   ] I could explain it better than Wikipedia does

[   ] I can do tick boxes

[ X ] I care

[RED-DOG]

My degree dissertation was "The Use of Prime Numbers in Mathematics Through History", if I can find a copy I could link to it - it's a really interesting read. Honest.

It's sub title was, "A Brief History of Prime", although apparently I'm not the only one who has thought of this idea.

Link away. If people can put up with my ferret stories the least I can do is read about your prime numbers.

[kinboshi]

My degree dissertation was "The Use of Prime Numbers in Mathematics Through History", if I can find a copy I could link to it - it's a really interesting read. Honest.

It's sub title was, "A Brief History of Prime", although apparently I'm not the only one who has thought of this idea.

Can you explain the Riemann hypothesis in stupid layman's terms?

[AndrewT]

My degree dissertation was "The Use of Prime Numbers in Mathematics Through History", if I can find a copy I could link to it - it's a really interesting read. Honest.

It's sub title was, "A Brief History of Prime", although apparently I'm not the only one who has thought of this idea.

If you didn't number the pages in your dissertation 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13 etc I'll be disappointed.

[kinboshi]

My degree dissertation was "The Use of Prime Numbers in Mathematics Through History", if I can find a copy I could link to it - it's a really interesting read. Honest.

It's sub title was, "A Brief History of Prime", although apparently I'm not the only one who has thought of this idea.

If you didn't number the pages in your dissertation 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13 etc I'll be disappointed.

Apparently, his dissertation only received a C.  It was sub-prime.