Swedish Student Partly Solves 16th Hilbert Problem

An anonymous reader writes "Swedish media report that 22-year-old Elin Oxenhielm, a student at Stockholm University, has solved a chunk of one of the major problems posed to 20th century mathematics, Hilbert's 16th problem. Norwegian Aftenposten has an English version of the reports."

Where I went to school

[Anonymous Coward]

You solved the whole thing or you got an F.

Wow he's good

[Rosco P. Coltrane]

I'm still trying to figure out the 15th Dilbert cartoon ...

I remember

[GregThePaladin]

this one story. Some college kid showed up late for class, and found a problem up on the board. Thinking it was homework, he went home and solved it. Turns out it was supposed to be unsolveable.

Just somethingto think of.

I'd hit it!

[dewie]

Uh, sorry. Thought I was on fark for a second.

Seriosly though, a hot Swedish mathematician? That's so much like my dreams it's scary.

Re:It's funny that college kids....

[leviramsey]

In this case the theory that it's to get chicks can probably be ruled out, as:

• It's a chick who solved it
• Even if she is a lesbian, I doubt there's a single hetero- or homosexual female on this earth that will sleep with someone because they solved a math problem.

was it just me...

[mrsev]

... I read it first time as "Swedish Student Party"

Seemed to be an interesting image!!

Re:I'd hit it!

[Rinikusu]

I've got spanking material for the night.

Seriously.

Hot *and* smart.

Happy Thanksgiving indeed.

Slashdot announces breakthough

[Anonymous Coward]

in something only 10 slashdotters know anything about;

Have you noticed

[SkArcher]

There are three stories more highly tipped at the bottom of the page, and their titles are;

• Santas helper throttles teen
• Beaver hit bus with tree
• Drunken moose alert in southern Norway

And you thought /.s moderation system needed work!

Re:I remember

[mc_barron]

Yeah, and he had this group of construction worker buddies he would hand out in bars with. He had a great mind, but he was abused as a child and couldn't express intimate emotions. He solves this problem on the board, and the next hting he knows the math professor really wants him to work on problems together. Then Robin Williams shows up and...oh, wait a minute.

Mathematicians cheering in the aisles

[Frisky070802]

Two of the last three headlines I see on slashdot are about math (this one and Robin Milner). Timothy, the rest of us submit stories too!

Just kidding ... these are perfectly reasonable stories. But I'm still a bit surprised. But then, slashdot readers don't disappoint. They immediately honed in on Turing's sexuality and the student's physical attributes. Math, what math?

Re:I'd hit it!

[Dutchmaan]

Here you go... make a huge printout and place it on your sheets!

http://www.math.su.se/~elin/elinoxenhielm.jpg

Time's up, put your pencils down.

[Thud457]

"The set of 23 problems was put forward by Prussian mathematician David Hilbert in 1900 as challenges for the 20th century. Three remain unsolved, numbers 6,8 and 16."

Looks like the 20th century FAILED IT!!!!

Awww crap, did I say that out loud?!!! I'm gonna get a karma burn for that!

argh... evidence that...

[mantera]

all those people who comment with a "he" demonstrate that a good proportion of slashdotters don't even click the links and see the stuff linked to... it's a SHE!!!... and she's got a cute belly and a sweet smile too...

wow... imagine taking her to bed... i don't know if it'd turn me on that she's a published mathematician of extraordinary achievement or if it'd make me having an erection an infinitesmially remote possibility.

Re:hot? cute?

[wallywam1]

Maybe you weren't expecting a sloven, coke-bottled, matted-haired geek like the rest of us apparently were.

hmmmmm

[JeanBaptiste]

the caption below the photo says "Elin Oxenhielm pointing to the second part of Hilbert's 16th problem on her web page"

looks like a chalkboard to me...

oh well.

Re:Have you noticed

[Dr Caleb]

Drunken moose alert in southern Norway

I always thought Norwegian Moose got more tired when they drink. Must be coffee drinks.

Swedish Student Party?

[BillsPetMonkey]

For about 1.7 seconds, I thought the headline said ... oh, nevermind.

I'm convinced

[Hoi Polloi]

They've got cute mathematicians, terrorist beavers, psychopathic elves and I've got friends over there. That's it, I'm moving to Norway.

Re:Slashdot announces breakthough

[fishbowl]

"in something only 10 slashdotters know anything about"

Just because you aren't a Math or Physics major doesn't mean we aren't in here.

Hot sweedish chicks

[Andreas(R)]

I'm impressed by the sweedish girls at Stockholm University.

One [math.su.se]

Two [math.su.se]

Three [math.su.se]

Four [math.su.se] :)

Enjoy :)

Translation?

[grasshoppa]

Norwegian Aftenposten has an English version of the reports."

Uh..can anybody translate the english version into moron for me?

Re:argh... evidence that...

[Anonymous Coward]

I proved when I was 13 that the angle of the dangle is directly related to the heat of the meat. Google for it.

Damn...

[Querty]

I just read that as

"Swedish Student Party Solves 16th Hilbert Problem"

And /me was thinking: some party!

Re:It's funny that college kids....

[orthogonal]

It's a chick who solved it

Math chicks always get me hot. And she is one hot math chick.

I'd love to estimate the area under her curves.

Re:I'd hit it!

[los furtive]

Bah, she ain't hot, she just shrinks her shirts in the laundry ;-)

Re:I'd hit it!

[Jugalator]

Wow! Look at all those sexy formulae! :-D

Re:argh... evidence that...

[satanami69]

That is true. Also of note is the angle is inversely proportional to the mass of the ass.

Re:It's funny that college kids....

[Nate Fox]

I doubt there's a single hetero- or homosexual female on this earth that will sleep with someone because they solved a math problem.

you underestimate the loneliness of the slashdot crowd

Re:Looks Like She's Married

[Anonymous Coward]

> not only that... but it's like she's showing off the ring too!!

Yeah, and it's like the writing on the blackboard is her boasting about her guy...how does it make you feel, huh? Angry, right? So angry you've just got to do SOMETHING...you're not going to let her get away with it, are you?

Re:I'd hit it!

[orthogonal]

Personally, I prefer smaller asses and hard tits.

There's a name for those: they're called "boys".

Re:I remember

[Anonymous Coward]

dumbass - when they find the body and declare him/her dead, you'll get your A's...

otherwise, you need to wait 7 years, and if you haven't graduated by then, you've probably dropped out...

You bastard.

[Civil_Disobedient]

That was pretty nice, leading us down a primrose path and then throwing that 4th babe in there. Wasn't expecting that fine piece of crumpet. You bastard.

Re:It's funny that college kids....

[Trejkaz]

Or the volume, in this case. ;-)

Re:I'd hit it!

[lithis]

yeah, but look at her html...

Re:It's funny that college kids....

[freeweed]

To hell with estimating, I'd rather have a firm grasp on the number.

Re:problem description: not today

[McLoud]

Our mathematicians are busy dribbling^H^H^H^H^H^H^Hanalizing around the girl^H^H^H^Hproblem

Re:Maybe math, then..

[The Cydonian]

But it does seem true that math is "the young man's game".

No longer. The young woman here disproved your hypothesis.

Re:I'd hit it!

[Uma Thurman]

I'm prettier than her anyway.

Re:It's funny that college kids....

[Lovepump]

I believe it'll remain imaginary for you...

Re:I'm convinced

[Anonymous Coward]

She is Swedish.

What I heard on a hitchhiking trip (in Denmark):
Norwegian to a Swede: "Norway has everything Sweden has except for one thing."
Swede: "Uh ok,.but what's this thing?"
Norwegian: "Good neighbors."

Moral: Norwegians and Danes don't seem to get along with Swedes.

Re:Have you noticed

[gorilla]

A Moose once bit my sister ...

EQ vs Math

[theraccoon]

It's sad, but I was more excited to see EverQuest Players Defeat 'Unkillable' Monster [slashdot.org] than the solving of a math problem. Makes ya wonder who's more geekier.

I wonder how many people

[Dlugar]

I wonder how many people read the article only because of this post here.

I know I did.

Re:It's funny that college kids....

[Tackhead]

> There's a reason I said estimate: it's more "hands on", and to ensure accuracy, I'd have to repeat the process many times.
>
>Many, many times. All in the interest of science, of course. Hubba, hubba.

You're not a mathematician, you're a physicist. Not as bad as an engineer, mind you.

The picture of Elig proves that there exists at least one female mathematician for whom "I'd hit it". As a mathematician, that's good enough!

Thanks for ruining a rare geek fantasy

[GuyMannDude]

She was wearing a Tux shirt, but she told me it was her boyfriend's (sorry guys), and she didn't use computers much (just Mathematica on the SGIs).

The entire male membership of slashdot just went limp thanks to you Mr. Spoils-All-The-Fun!

GMD

Re:It's funny that college kids....

[tchdab1]

Yes. Broad generalizations never work well.

Re:It's funny that college kids....

[identity0]

Hi, I'm Elin. Let's see if you can figure this out...

Imagine that my bra size is 30B, dress size is 8, and pants size is 30, and I'm changing clothes on a train going from New York to Stockholm at 80 mph that leaves at 8pm local time. Meanwhile another train going the oppisite direction at 70mph leaves Stockholm at 6am local time the same day with you inside. If my boyfriend who is infinitely hotter and smarter than you leaves Chicago on a flight to Stockholm at 7pm local time and takes 10 hours to get there, what is the area of naked skin under my clothes, and what are your chances of ever getting sight of it as our trains pass one another, taking me to heaven in the arms of Jean-Claude and you to hell in the bowels of Slashdot trolls? Show your work with your answer.

(Yes, that's a joke, I'm not Elin) :)

SwedishHot at SlashDot

[Get Behind the Mule]

I wanted to read the responses to this article because I thought that maybe one Slashdotter could give a qualified explanation of Hilbert's 16th problem, and maybe even explain something about the partial solution. That was possible back when Andrew Wiles proved his theorem, you know.

And look at this, not a single post even gets started on the subject! At least not when you browse at +2, like I do. But we're all standing around slobbering over the thought of a hot Swedish math babe! And so am I!

Hey Taco, can we get this gal for an Ask Slashdot interview? She could explain her theorem, and tell us something about her lingerie.

Re:It's funny that college kids....

[Anonymous Coward]

3. She is not a "college kid" as you put it, but a PhD student (she does not fit into the same drug-imbibing, all-night partying picture)

Uh...I fit into that picture when I was a PhD student. Mind you, I dropped out before I got the PhD, so I guess I might not count.

Re:SECKS

[DoctorHibbert]

What are you an idiot?!? Haven't you seen any teen love movies? Geek chicks always turn out super hot!! All you need to do is take of the glasses, let down her hair and unbutton her shirt a little.

Glasses? check
Long hair in bun? check check
Dowdy, boyish outfit? check check eheck!!!!

She is the trifecta! MAN SHE IS RIPE FOR THE TAKING!!!!

If you can't see that, well, then that's just sad.

Re:Wow he's good

[4bz]

>...you would have noticed that "he" is actually a "she" (and >a fairly good looking she at that. :) But this is slashdot, and the standard for "fairly good looking" is significantly lower.

Re:I remember

[Guppy06]

"This has to be one of the ultimate academic wish-fulfillment fantasies"

It has to be pure fantasy. In the real world, the math prof would quietly take credit for the solution himself.

Re:It's funny that college kids....

[Stackster]

...I'm changing clothes on a train going from New York to Stockholm at 80 mph that leaves at 8pm local time.

I would sure like to see a _train_ from New York to Stockholm. Even better would be seing someone trying to put clothes on it.

Elin's phone number...

[rasteroid]

is on her website [math.su.se]. We are really a big bunch of nerds on Slashdot. We talk about how hot and sexy Elin is, but nobody actually calls her up :)

Re:Wow he's good

[brysnot]

ummm... no wonder linux apps aren't very pretty. you all don't have a clue what is good looking.