
Cash for Math: The Erdős Prizes Live On - nature24
https://www.quantamagazine.org/cash-for-math-the-erdos-prizes-live-on-20170605/
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Sniffnoy
More open problems in math with monetary rewards attached can be found here:
[https://mathoverflow.net/questions/66084/open-problems-
with-...](https://mathoverflow.net/questions/66084/open-problems-with-
monetary-rewards)

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MichaelBurge
I've often thought about setting up a semi-automated "theorem bounty" site for
formal proofs. Besides prizes for new or big discoveries, it'd also be a good
way to fund formalizing e.g. undergraduate textbooks on Ring Theory.

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chriswarbo
There is (was? site doesn't seem to load for me..) a "bitcoins for formal
proofs" site called Proof Market
[https://slawekk.wordpress.com/2014/01/11/proof-
market](https://slawekk.wordpress.com/2014/01/11/proof-market)

Theorems and proofs can be given in Coq or Agda format. If they pass the
language's checker, bitcoins are dispensed.

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melling
Hopefully the remaining money is in an index fund and growing. Larger amounts
of money could then be offered. At the very least it could keep pace with
inflation.

Can donations be made?

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oldbuzzard
From the article, I think the "remaining money" may be entirely notional. It
talks about Ron Graham chipping in $5k to help cover a $10K bounty.

Besides, these days the money is mostly beside the point. It is like those
Knuth reward checks,
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knuth_reward_check](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knuth_reward_check).
In most cases, certainly the most recent $500 "happy ending" problem, the
bragging rights are worth more than the money.

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relyks
Do any of the unsolved problems have any practical applications? Could
solutions lead to other results?

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analog31
One thing I've noticed is that some of the great problems, such as Fermat's
Last Theorem, spawned entire fields of math, from which applications may have
developed. It wouldn't shock me if some advances in cryptography were spinoffs
of progress in pure math.

Then there's the prize for progress towards understanding the Navier-Stokes
equation of fluid dynamics.

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msds
It would shock me if any significant advances in cryptography weren't progress
in pure math.

