9 ms·
What's the commentary on prime numbers currently? Is it expected that there is some unfound pattern to them? Or will they always remain elusive?
by desertraven 3y ago
What's the commentary on prime numbers currently? Is it expected that there is some unfound pattern to them? Or will they always remain elusive?
- timetraveller26 3y agoYes
- frogpelt 3y agoNo.
- Taywee 3y agoMaybe.
- C-x_C-f 3y agoElusiveness is subjective, but there's certainly plenty of patterns to be found (though, to be fair, what constitutes a pattern might also be subjective). You should check out Terence Tao's blog [0], he's not only one of the most prominent mathematicians in the field but he's also excellent at explaining things. These slides [1] for example don't require any background in math. [0] https://terrytao.wordpress.com https://terrytao.wordpress.com [1] https://www.math.ucla.edu/~tao/preprints/Slides/primes.pdf https://www.math.ucla.edu/~tao/preprints/Slides/primes.pdf
- smackeyacky 3y agoPrime numbers are important for cryptography - if there is a pattern to them it might have an effect on what we think is secure or not. https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2018-01-20/how-prime-numbers-rsa-encryption-works/9338876 https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2018-01-20/how-prime-num...
- mathgenius 3y agoThe answer to these questions is the Riemann hypothesis. John Baez just wrote a related paper about "motives" for beginners (undergrads?) [1]. It's worth a read even if you squint at the equations like i do, there's plenty of interesting commentary as well. [1] https://math.ucr.edu/home/baez/motives.pdf https://math.ucr.edu/home/baez/motives.pdf