This
is a very interesting result and not what I would have expected. It
is not the proof but that a finite bound exists to the infinite
progression of this solution set. Intuitively, it should not.
Congratulations
as usual and it is always gratifying when the press actually notices
an obscure result in Mathematics. Of course, Epoch could hardly
resist poking the Chinese regime to make sure that Chinese glory is
missing.
It
might be time to revisit the limit as x goes to mathematical infinity
for 1/x.
Chinese Mathematician
Discovers Groundbreaking Proof on Prime Numbers
By | June 16,
2013
A previously unheard
of mathematician has proved an important theorem on prime numbers,
surprising the mathematics field and earning international fame
overnight.
Hailing from China,
lecturer at the University of New Hampshire, Zhang Yitang has proven
that there are infinitely many pairs of prime numbers that differ by
less than 70 million.
In April, Zhang
submitted his paper to Annals of Mathematics, the field’s
most prestigious journal. Three weeks later—considered a remarkably
short amount of time within the academic discipline—Zhang received
a report from the journal’s referees confirming the accuracy of his
results.
As numbers grow
larger, the amount of prime numbers—numbers that are only divisible
by one and themselves—diminish, and thus, the gap between one prime
number and the next grows farther apart. Zhang’s paper proves that
no matter how far down the number line you go, there will always be a
pair of prime numbers that is less than 70 million units apart. His
paper is set to be published in the Annals.
One of the referees
said of Zhang’s work, “The main results are of the first rank”
and that the paper proved “a landmark theorem in the distribution
of prime numbers,” according to a report by the math and
science research foundation, Simons Foundation.
This is considered to
be a critical step in solving one of the the great mysteries of
number theory: the twin prime conjecture, which proposes that there
are infinitely many pairs of prime numbers that only differ by two
(like 3 and 5, 11 and 13).
Zhang was born and
raised in Beijing, though his ancestral hometown is in Zhejiang
Province. In 1978, he was accepted into the mathematics department of
Peking University, earning a master’s degree there. In 1985, he
came to the United States to earn a doctorate in mathematics at
Purdue University.
While in the United States, Zhang also joined the Chinese Alliance for Democracy, an overseas organization dedicated to the democratic cause in China.
But after he earned
his doctorate in 1992, he was unable to find a job in academia. He
worked for several years as an accountant and at restaurants doing
delivery, while continuing to investigate mathematical problems and
follow the latest in the field.
In 1999, he got a
position at the University of New Hampshire as a teaching assistant,
then was promoted to a lecturer position several years later. Despite
his heavy teaching load and the lack of research funding, he pursued
a number of research projects.
Four years ago, Zhang
began work on the twin primes conjecture, but hit a rut. Then, during
a vacation trip to Colorado to visit a friend last July, a possible
solution dawned on him.
Shortly after news of
his paper spread across the mathematical community, mathematicians at
Harvard University arranged for Zhang to present his work there. On
May 13, his lecture at Harvard was warmly received and prompted
invitations from multiple research institutes in the United States.
According to an
article published by the Guangzhou newspaper Southern Weekend and
written by Zhang’s Colorado friend, Jacob Chi, Zhang was invited
two years ago by China’s leading research institution, the Chinese
Academy of Sciences to return to the country for a speaking
opportunity—which he refused. The Chinese regime has for decades
operated a number of official and semiofficial groups that attempt to
co-opt overseas Chinese who have professional accomplishments, in
order to burnish the reputation of the Party.
Zhang was approached
by officials from the Chinese Consulate, who sought a written
explanation as to why he did not return to China after studying
abroad. Describing the encounter, Chi wrote: “A man who never loses
his temper and is always good to everyone, he left angry, feeling
offended.”
In an interview with
the Chinese edition of Radio France International, Zhang said that he
has no plans to return to China because he enjoys the freedom to
pursue whatever interests him in the United States. China’s a
place, he said, where “I wouldn’t be able to think and act
independently, so I wouldn’t be me anymore.”
I don't blame the guy for wanting to stay in the U.S., although he may not be much better off here. The U.S. military always has "need" for professionally educated civilians.
ReplyDeleteAs the U.S.'s financial problems continue to get worse, the more tyrannical its government is going to become. The political climate hasn't been all that well ever since Reagan left office.
This is an excellent proof, though. I'm not sure where a pair of prime numbers begins to diverge by more than 70 million. As I understand the article, and maybe I don't, now we know that for any given prime, the next largest one will be less than 70 million away.
If the next largest discovered prime is more than that, then it proves that there is at least one prime that lies in between the two that hasn't been discovered yet.