umsami Posted November 17, 2015 Share Posted November 17, 2015 Something to show your math lovers in the morning. "The Riemann hypothesis, which has gone unsolved for more than 150 years has finally been solved. Dr Opeyemi Enoch, from The Federal University in Oye-Ekiti, Nigeria, scooped a one million dollar prize for answering the puzzle." (<==That was the post/wording on the BBC Facebook page last night. Apparently it has not been confirmed and may take some time to do so.) http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p03891wc?ocid=socialflow_facebook 12 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jean in Newcastle Posted November 17, 2015 Share Posted November 17, 2015 Very cool! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spy Car Posted November 17, 2015 Share Posted November 17, 2015 And he need to move his one million out of the country, and needs your help. If you could just make a good will deposit... Sorry, couldn't resist :D Bill (who should be ashamed of himself) 29 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tsuga Posted November 17, 2015 Share Posted November 17, 2015 You should be ashamed of yourself, Bill. You would be if you watched the whole video. I've worked with people like him in African countries (though not Nigeria). It makes the scammers all the more sickening--so many of them aren't even from Nigeria but people think, "Well Nigeria does have all that oil..." I remember when a "mediocre" Chinese math professor solved a problem... no such jokes although there are scams the world wide over. As someone who has worked on education in Africa, it is always so depressing to see them get lost in the long slog. This thrills me. It will inspire a lot of kids who do get tired of answers coming from the outside. Edited to add, however... when I went to go see what the proof is--I cannot find it, so perhaps Bill will be shown to be right after all. Depressing. Any links to the proof? 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caroline Posted November 17, 2015 Share Posted November 17, 2015 I don't think Bill was doubting the veracity of the Nigerian professor. You should be ashamed of yourself, Bill. You would be if you watched the whole video. I've worked with people like him in African countries (though not Nigeria). It makes the scammers all the more sickening--so many of them aren't even from Nigeria but people think, "Well Nigeria does have all that oil..." I remember when a "mediocre" Chinese math professor solved a problem... no such jokes although there are scams the world wide over. As someone who has worked on education in Africa, it is always so depressing to see them get lost in the long slog. This thrills me. It will inspire a lot of kids who do get tired of answers coming from the outside. Edited to add, however... when I went to go see what the proof is--I cannot find it, so perhaps Bill will be shown to be right after all. Depressing. Any links to the proof? 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DawnM Posted November 17, 2015 Share Posted November 17, 2015 Wow, that is very exciting! I don't even understand how a math problem can be unsolved. How do they even know it is a real problem if they can't solve it? See, I am pretty math illiterate. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
umsami Posted November 17, 2015 Author Share Posted November 17, 2015 Edited to add, however... when I went to go see what the proof is--I cannot find it, so perhaps Bill will be shown to be right after all. Depressing. Any links to the proof? Because it was on the BBC, I"m assuming it's true. This is where I'd expect to see the official proof and such. (Not there yet, still says unsolved). http://www.claymath.org/millennium-problems/riemann-hypothesis Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regentrude Posted November 17, 2015 Share Posted November 17, 2015 Because it was on the BBC, I"m assuming it's true. It is certainly true that this mathematician claims to have found a proof. I do not believe the BBC employs mathematicians who are capable of reviewing the work and determining whether it actually does constitute a valid proof. One will have to wait and see until the work has been examined by people who can make that decision. If he presented his solution on November 11th, that has not given the mathematical community enough time to do so. ETA: The papers Dr. Enoch uploaded to his academia account https://fuoye.academia.edu/opeyemiEnoch are all the works of other authors. I have not been able to locate his original article. Nor, for that matter, seems to have been anybody else. The abstract to his talk is located here in the conference proceedings :http://computer.conference-site.com/proceedings_icmcs_2015.pdf 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luuknam Posted November 17, 2015 Share Posted November 17, 2015 It is certainly true that this mathematician claims to have found a proof. I do not believe the BBC employs mathematicians who are capable of reviewing the work and determining whether it actually does constitute a valid proof. One will have to wait and see until the work has been examined by people who can make that decision. If he presented his solution on November 11th, that has not given the mathematical community enough time to do so. I'm pretty sure nobody is going to give him the $$$ until everybody agrees that the proof is correct, so I guess the (thread) title is misleading. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
umsami Posted November 17, 2015 Author Share Posted November 17, 2015 I'm pretty sure nobody is going to give him the $$$ until everybody agrees that the proof is correct, so I guess the (thread) title is misleading. Here is another article from an Irish paper. Will it hold out? No idea, but I hope so...especially as it seems to me that there is a lot of doubt regarding what this man did which I don't think I'd see if he was Asian or from a US university. I hope I'm wrong, though on that regard. http://www.independent.ie/world-news/europe/professor-becomes-a-millionaire-after-cracking-150yearold-maths-conundrum-34208844.html Last night when I posted, the BBC was saying that he had solved it. (That was their Facebook post and headline.) Here's a bit more about the Reimann Hypothesis, too...."A hundred years after Einstein’s theory of general relativity was announced to the world, it’s a good time to remember Bernhard Riemann’s contributions as well." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tsuga Posted November 17, 2015 Share Posted November 17, 2015 Because it was on the BBC, I"m assuming it's true. This is where I'd expect to see the official proof and such. (Not there yet, still says unsolved). http://www.claymath.org/millennium-problems/riemann-hypothesisI know Bill wasn't doubting the veracity of one person. Merely brining up a stereotype. I like Bill, just disagree that that's funny. Sadly for this guy... It may be a hoax. I saw on the BBC but no citations, nothing. And no other press outside of Nigerian blogs. I wouldn't doubt but looking for the proof to put up only reached the same circle of blogs and a very doubtful local Nigerian message board. If he won, awesome, but it sure would be nice to see them show the proof. I looked up the proof the last time this happened with that prof from China, too. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiana Posted November 17, 2015 Share Posted November 17, 2015 After someone announces a proof of something major like this, there is always a period of time where other mathematicians review the proof. Sometimes the proof itself is incorrect, and sometimes it is mostly correct and everyone agrees that the work is mostly done but there are leaps or holes where the mathematician has assumed more than is proper (for example, Andrew Wiles needed a patch on his proof of Fermat's Theorem). It is not just doubt. It is part of the process of mathematics. It takes a long time even for very educated and clever mathematicians to work through a proof like this. 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luuknam Posted November 17, 2015 Share Posted November 17, 2015 Here is another article from an Irish paper. Will it hold out? No idea, but I hope so...especially as it seems to me that there is a lot of doubt regarding what this man did which I don't think I'd see if he was Asian or from a US university. I hope I'm wrong, though on that regard. Oh, I'd be happy if he solved it, but I'd be skeptical until plenty of people reviewed it regardless of where the guy was from. Mathematical proofs of 150-year old problems are not trivial (if they were, they'd have been solved 150 years ago). Since it's math, I don't think nationality makes a big difference... you can do math anywhere and don't need expensive equipment to do it - just a lot of brilliance and even more hard work. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luuknam Posted November 17, 2015 Share Posted November 17, 2015 I remember when a "mediocre" Chinese math professor solved a problem... no such jokes although there are scams the world wide over. If it had been any other African country nobody would be making jokes about scams either. It's not about Africa. There is a difference about a joke about a meme (Nigerian scammers) and racism or writing off an entire continent. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
umsami Posted November 17, 2015 Author Share Posted November 17, 2015 If it had been any other African country nobody would be making jokes about scams either. It's not about Africa. There is a difference about a joke about a meme (Nigerian scammers) and racism or writing off an entire continent. Not so sure about this. (Not thinking of Bill either....totally get the joke and the emails.) I think that when many people (not all of course) think about Africa, they see a poor, uneducated continent. They don't really think that there can be geniuses there or what not....because surely they'd leave to come to the West. They don't realize that Africa has some of the fastest growing economies in the world (the Chinese realize this, however...and are investing heavily in Africa). I mean, if we're honest, if I had just said mathematician solves 150 year problem....would you picture that it was a black mathematician? I doubt many would. I'd love for that to change. Would you even picture a woman mathematician? Most would likely picture an older white or asian guy. I want it to be true for many reasons....and hope it is... because it would be very powerful for African kids to know that one of their own solved something that nobody else could. It's like with the four minute mile barrier.... once somebody achieves it, they floodgate opens. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tsuga Posted November 17, 2015 Share Posted November 17, 2015 If it had been any other African country nobody would be making jokes about scams either. It's not about Africa. There is a difference about a joke about a meme (Nigerian scammers) and racism or writing off an entire continent. I didn't say it was racism or writing off the entire continent. I said it was a stereotype and as part of a joke not funny. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luuknam Posted November 17, 2015 Share Posted November 17, 2015 Not so sure about this. (Not thinking of Bill either....totally get the joke and the emails.) I think that when many people (not all of course) think about Africa, they see a poor, uneducated continent. They don't really think that there can be geniuses there or what not....because surely they'd leave to come to the West. They don't realize that Africa has some of the fastest growing economies in the world (the Chinese realize this, however...and are investing heavily in Africa). I mean, if we're honest, if I had just said mathematician solves 150 year problem....would you picture that it was a black mathematician? I doubt many would. I'd love for that to change. Would you even picture a woman mathematician? Most would likely picture an older white or asian guy. I want it to be true for many reasons....and hope it is... because it would be very powerful for African kids to know that one of their own solved something that nobody else could. It's like with the four minute mile barrier.... once somebody achieves it, they floodgate opens. I agree it'd be great for the role model reason etc, I just don't think Bill would've made a joke if the guy were from, say, Sudan or any of the other 50 or so African countries, and that even if he or someone else had, not as many people would've liked it. For the record, my own stereotype is that iirc I read somewhere that most mathematicians do their breakthrough discoveries before they're about 30 or so, so I wouldn't picture an 'older' white guy. That said, you're right I probably wouldn't have pictured a black man or a woman either. Then and again, whenever a non-white non-male does something like that, people tend to preface it by giving a race/gender/nationality or something, and are less likely to preface it with those things if it *is* a white guy, so there's that problem. Aside from that, I suspect that the number of white/Asian people having a strong enough math background to even attempt to work on these kinds of proofs is significantly larger than the number of black people having a similar math background (white+Chinese alone outnumber the number of black people, and probably are on average more highly educated, especially if you take into consideration that a larger percentage of black people are under 18 years old) so statistically speaking, it makes sense to picture a white or Asian guy. Regardless, it'd be great if this guy solved it, both for the role model/anti-stereotyping, as well as for a 150-year old problem being solved (which is a big deal whoever does it, hence the $$$ price). 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luuknam Posted November 17, 2015 Share Posted November 17, 2015 I didn't say it was racism or writing off the entire continent. I said it was a stereotype and as part of a joke not funny. But do you complain about every.single.joke that contains any kind of stereotype, regardless of the kind of stereotype? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regentrude Posted November 17, 2015 Share Posted November 17, 2015 Here is another article from an Irish paper. Will it hold out? No idea, but I hope so...especially as it seems to me that there is a lot of doubt regarding what this man did which I don't think I'd see if he was Asian or from a US university. I hope I'm wrong, though on that regard. I do not think the doubt has anything to do with the bolded. Any Asian or American would be subject to the same scrutiny if no track record of work in the respective field could be found. Anybody seriously working in a field of mathematics would be expected to have a history of publications at least in bordering fields. The absence of any such record is what raises the red flags - not teh fact that the person is Nigerian. The news sources contribute to this suspicion by reporting only that Dr. Enoch has previously designed a prototype silo for poor farmers and is working on how to protect oil pipelines from vandalism as well as mathematical approaches to climate change" 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mathnerd Posted November 17, 2015 Share Posted November 17, 2015 After someone announces a proof of something major like this, there is always a period of time where other mathematicians review the proof. Sometimes the proof itself is incorrect, and sometimes it is mostly correct and everyone agrees that the work is mostly done but there are leaps or holes where the mathematician has assumed more than is proper (for example, Andrew Wiles needed a patch on his proof of Fermat's Theorem). It is not just doubt. It is part of the process of mathematics. It takes a long time even for very educated and clever mathematicians to work through a proof like this. :iagree: When a major math problem is solved, it is first presented to a committee of mathematicians who peer review it and try to validate it. This Nigerian prof says that he solved it around 2010 and I presume that he has been reworking it, double-checking his proof etc. for a while before he submitted it. I believe that we will not see the proof until it is officially released by the Mathematics Institute that announced this as one of the Millennium Math problems. Thant being said, here is what some googling found: "As of the time of writing, the Riemann Zeta Hypothesis is still marked as unsolved on Wikipedia, and the Clay Institute, which offers a prize of $1 million to whoever solves any of the Millennium Prize Problem, still categorizes it as unsolved." 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
umsami Posted November 17, 2015 Author Share Posted November 17, 2015 :iagree: When a major math problem is solved, it is first presented to a committee of mathematicians who peer review it and try to validate it. This Nigerian prof says that he solved it around 2010 and I presume that he has been reworking it, double-checking his proof etc. for a while before he submitted it. I believe that we will not see the proof until it is officially released by the Mathematics Institute that announced this as one of the Millennium Math problems. Thant being said, here is what some googling found: "As of the time of writing, the Riemann Zeta Hypothesis is still marked as unsolved on Wikipedia, and the Clay Institute, which offers a prize of $1 million to whoever solves any of the Millennium Prize Problem, still categorizes it as unsolved." Yes, I posted the link to the Clay Institute website earlier upthread. As far as I understand, he just presented his stuff last week...so it could be awhile. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zoobie Posted November 17, 2015 Share Posted November 17, 2015 If it had been any other African country nobody would be making jokes about scams either. It's not about Africa. There is a difference about a joke about a meme (Nigerian scammers) and racism or writing off an entire continent. I scanned the page of thread titles and saw "Nigerian" and "million dollars" and thought it was a spam post. I don't think the people who run the scam are actually Nigerians. Like the annoying lady who keeps telling me it's my LAST CALL from Card Services is probably not really named Rachel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tanaqui Posted November 17, 2015 Share Posted November 17, 2015 If it makes you feel better, Tsuga, the modern "Nigerian" scam is just a variation of the Spanish Prisoner scam. The popular countries for this sort of fraud vary according to time period. And while 61% of those scammers are ultimately tracked down to the US, 6% of them do seem to be actually based in Nigeria. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mamiof5 Posted November 17, 2015 Share Posted November 17, 2015 I know stereotypes are not funny...but I have lived enough with the "you come from Colombia, you must have done or dealt with drugs at some point in your life" to be too bothered by them that much 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mimm Posted November 17, 2015 Share Posted November 17, 2015 Not so sure about this. (Not thinking of Bill either....totally get the joke and the emails.) I think that when many people (not all of course) think about Africa, they see a poor, uneducated continent. They don't really think that there can be geniuses there or what not....because surely they'd leave to come to the West. They don't realize that Africa has some of the fastest growing economies in the world (the Chinese realize this, however...and are investing heavily in Africa). I mean, if we're honest, if I had just said mathematician solves 150 year problem....would you picture that it was a black mathematician? I doubt many would. I'd love for that to change. Would you even picture a woman mathematician? Most would likely picture an older white or asian guy. I want it to be true for many reasons....and hope it is... because it would be very powerful for African kids to know that one of their own solved something that nobody else could. It's like with the four minute mile barrier.... once somebody achieves it, they floodgate opens. I very much have this bias. I would have pictured some old white guy if you said a mathematician solved something. To hear an African mathematician did it is surprising to me. I realize this is my own ignorance. I guess when I think of Africa, I think of war, of poverty, and an education system that has to struggle against that. Not that I think that Africans are stupider or something, but that even the brilliant ones might have less opportunity for education, especially higher education. I agree that I hope it's true and that it's very inspiring for African children. :) 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regentrude Posted November 17, 2015 Share Posted November 17, 2015 The university with which Dr. Enoch is affiliated has a very odd website. I have not been able to find any actual department website for their math dept, nor any research profiles of the faculty members, lists of publications, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mathnerd Posted November 17, 2015 Share Posted November 17, 2015 Yes, I posted the link to the Clay Institute website earlier upthread. As far as I understand, he just presented his stuff last week...so it could be awhile. According to CNN, Clay Institute is saying that the problem is considered "unsolved" by them and that the solution will not be considered by them unless it is accepted for two years within the mathematics community. http://www.claymath.org/millennium-problems/rules-millennium-prizes Since the Nigerian professor has not published his proof in any journal and it has not been reviewed by mathematicians, they consider it "unsolved". It could be that the professor in question will start the process to get his proof accepted soon. http://www.cnn.com/2015/11/17/africa/riemann-hypothesis-unsolved/ 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tsuga Posted November 17, 2015 Share Posted November 17, 2015 But do you complain about every.single.joke that contains any kind of stereotype, regardless of the kind of stereotype? No. I save my defenses for minorities that are frequently discriminated against. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corraleno Posted November 17, 2015 Share Posted November 17, 2015 Reimann Hypothesis Not Proved 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jane in NC Posted November 17, 2015 Share Posted November 17, 2015 Kiana mentioned this but I am going to reiterate for those who are not familiar with some of the historical unsolved problems in Mathematics. When Andrew Wiles announced that he had a solution to Fermat's Last Theorem, it was not immediately assumed that he had done what so many others had failed to do for several hundred years. Nor was it something that mathematicians could quickly verify. Wiles' proof (which initially had a flaw) is over 150 pages long! Also, mathematics has numerous sub-disciplines. Not all mathematicians can serve as appropriate referees for evaluating proofs of this magnitude. Wiles was a white guy at Princeton when he announced his proof of Fermat's Last Theorem. It was challenged. This has nothing to do with racism. This is how math works. 10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tsuga Posted November 18, 2015 Share Posted November 18, 2015 Kiana mentioned this but I am going to reiterate for those who are not familiar with some of the historical unsolved problems in Mathematics. When Andrew Wiles announced that he had a solution to Fermat's Last Theorem, it was not immediately assumed that he had done what so many others had failed to do for several hundred years. Nor was it something that mathematicians could quickly verify. Wiles' proof (which initially had a flaw) is over 150 pages long! Also, mathematics has numerous sub-disciplines. Not all mathematicians can serve as appropriate referees for evaluating proofs of this magnitude. Wiles was a white guy at Princeton when he announced his proof of Fermat's Last Theorem. It was challenged. This has nothing to do with racism. This is how math works. I would like to clarify for my part that (a) I was not charging racism, which is different from nationalist stereotypes, and (b) it's not the challenges that are problematic but when stereotypes are used to make them. There is nothing wrong with doubting the veracity of the claim--I doubt it myself. I googled for proof and am waiting. There IS something wrong, IMO, with immediately bringing up the nationality's worst reputation at someone's moment of triumph. "Oh, so I guess Fermi has a new proof, does he? I suppose next he'll be sending the mafia to the door!" Italians are white, Fermi is established, it's still a rude joke and inappropriate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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