Massive Open Collaboration In Math Declared a Success 60
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by
timothy
from the you-count-the-feet-we'll-count-the-toes dept.
from the you-count-the-feet-we'll-count-the-toes dept.
nanopolitan writes "In late January, Tim Gowers, a Fields Medal winner at Cambridge University, used his blog for an experiment in massive online collaboration for solving a significant problem in math — combinatorial proof of the density Hales-Jewett theorem. Some six weeks (and nearly 1000 comments) later, Gowers has declared the project a success, and some of the ideas have already been written up as a preprint."
Massive open collaboration in math (Score:5, Funny)
I wonder if you could do massive open collaboration for software? You could probably write an OS kernel, maybe even an entire operating system!
Re:Too bad he used a blog (Score:2, Funny)
How about Subversion or GIT?
Prior Art (Score:4, Funny)
I totally tried "Massive Open Collaboration" on my homework and tests in high school. I most definitely came up with this idea first.
And, no, I still don't understand basic algebra? Why do you ask?
Surprise result (Score:2, Funny)
It turns out that 2 + 2 actually = 5.
I know; I'm surprised, too. Well, I'm off to patch my calculator.
Re:It's about n-dimensional tic-tac-toe. (Score:3, Funny)
I postulate that with enough dimensions, my opponent's king will be in checkmate before I even make a move. If said number of dimensions are found to be within the confines of string theory, I would not owe my friend 20 bucks nor the sexual favors agreed upon in the rematch. Finally! A useful implication of string theory [xkcd.com].