

Million Dollar Math Problem - jason_tko
http://failuremag.com/index.php/site/print/million_dollar_math_problem/

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andrewcooke
_Perelman has a mind that is capable of taking in more information than any
mathematical mind that has come before. His brain is like a universal math
compactor. He grasps complex problems and reduces them to their solvable
essence. The problem is that he expects human beings to be similarly subject
to reduction. He expects the world to function in accordance with a set of
strictly laid out rules, and he cannot take in anything that does not conform
to those rules. And because the world is so unruly, Perelman has had to cut
off successive chunks of it._

if her book gets no deeper than that trite, reductionist, unsympathetic cliche
then it doesn't sound like it's going to say much of interest about the chap.
i hope she writes better about maths (but my impression from the interview is
that she does not).

~~~
manbearpig
Yeah, she clearly has such a shallow understanding of mathematics that there
is no way she can begin to appreciate what Perelman achieved or write anything
intelligible about his process.

"Perelman has a mind that is capable of taking in more information than any
mathematical mind that has come before" is the type of nonsense that will
drive away many of the people interested in this topic.

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ntownsend
For those interested in learning more about the character of Perleman and some
of the controversy surrounding the Poincaré conjecture and it's proof, here's
a great article from the New Yorker (dated Aug. 28, 2006):
<http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2006/08/28/060828fa_fact2>

~~~
teeja
"Everybody understood that if the proof is correct then no other recognition
is needed."

Too good for this world.

