Student mistook examples of unsolved math problems for homework, solves them(snopes.com)
snopes.com
Student mistook examples of unsolved math problems for homework, solves them
http://www.snopes.com/college/homework/unsolvable.asp
28 comments
George Pólya on von Neumann:
"Johnny was the only student I was ever afraid of. If in the course of a lecture I stated an unsolved problem, the chances were he'd come to me at the end of the lecture with the complete solution scribbled on a slip of paper."
"Johnny was the only student I was ever afraid of. If in the course of a lecture I stated an unsolved problem, the chances were he'd come to me at the end of the lecture with the complete solution scribbled on a slip of paper."
I think everyone was worried about telling Johnny what they were working on inc case he solved it on the spot.
Ha ha
Boothroid(3)
For anyone interested in trying their own "homework": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_unsolved_problems_in_m...
I don't think it works if you know they're difficult unsolved problems.
I think having someone pick a problem for you (thereby removing the option of choice) also focuses the mind.
It likely prevents you from doing a breadth-first search across the many problems, whereas a correct solution probably requires a depth-first approach.
It likely prevents you from doing a breadth-first search across the many problems, whereas a correct solution probably requires a depth-first approach.
For some it'll still work ... I hope :).
...the Reverend Schuler [sic] of the Crystal Cathedral in Los Angeles.
That building is in Orange County, not Los Angeles.
That building is in Orange County, not Los Angeles.
Does anyone know what were the theorems that Dantzig proved there?
According to stackexchange (https://math.stackexchange.com/questions/533146/dantzigs-uns...) they were these two:
https://projecteuclid.org/euclid.aoms/1177731912
https://projecteuclid.org/euclid.aoms/1177729695
https://projecteuclid.org/euclid.aoms/1177731912
https://projecteuclid.org/euclid.aoms/1177729695
A professor of mine told a similar story about John Milnor but apparently that's a garbled version.
https://mathoverflow.net/questions/54513/the-story-about-mil...
https://mathoverflow.net/questions/54513/the-story-about-mil...
Huffman Codes have a similar origin.
https://www.maa.org/sites/default/files/images/upload_librar...
In 1951 David A. Huffman and his classmates in an electrical engineering graduate course on information theory were given the choice of a term paper or a final exam. For the term paper, Huffman’s professor, Robert M. Fano, had assigned what at first appeared to be a simple problem. Students were asked to find the most efficient method of representing numbers, letters or other symbols using a binary code. Besides being a nimble intellectual exercise, finding such a code would enable information to be compressed for transmission over a computer network or for storage in a computer’s memory.
Huffman worked on the problem for months, developing a number of approaches, but none that he could prove to be the most efficient. Finally, he despaired of ever reaching a solution and decided to start studying for the final. Just as he was throwing his notes in the garbage, the solution came to him. “It was the most singular moment of my life,” Huffman says. “There was the absolute lightning of sudden realization.
[...]
Huffman says he might never have tried his hand at the problem - much less solved it at the age of 25 - if he had known that Fano, his professor, and Claude E. Shannon, the creator of information theory, had struggled with it.
https://www.maa.org/sites/default/files/images/upload_librar...
In 1951 David A. Huffman and his classmates in an electrical engineering graduate course on information theory were given the choice of a term paper or a final exam. For the term paper, Huffman’s professor, Robert M. Fano, had assigned what at first appeared to be a simple problem. Students were asked to find the most efficient method of representing numbers, letters or other symbols using a binary code. Besides being a nimble intellectual exercise, finding such a code would enable information to be compressed for transmission over a computer network or for storage in a computer’s memory.
Huffman worked on the problem for months, developing a number of approaches, but none that he could prove to be the most efficient. Finally, he despaired of ever reaching a solution and decided to start studying for the final. Just as he was throwing his notes in the garbage, the solution came to him. “It was the most singular moment of my life,” Huffman says. “There was the absolute lightning of sudden realization.
[...]
Huffman says he might never have tried his hand at the problem - much less solved it at the age of 25 - if he had known that Fano, his professor, and Claude E. Shannon, the creator of information theory, had struggled with it.
I like the professor.