
Terence Tao solves the Erdős Discrepancy Problem - jonbaer
http://www.nature.com/news/maths-whiz-solves-a-master-s-riddle-1.18441
======
mhartl
There are at least three exciting things here:

1\. A well-known conjecture in number theory has been proven (by Terry Tao,
natch).

2\. Several elements in the proof arose from an innovative collaborative
approach to mathematical research (the Polymath Project, specifically
Polymath5).

3\. The result will be published in a newly announced cost-effective open-
access journal, giving the new journal a big early prestige boost.

Every one of these is a big deal; taken together, they give us a glimpse of
the future of mathematics (which, per William Gibson, is already here, just
not very evenly distributed).

~~~
Natsu
I hope it's the future for a lot of fields, not just mathematics, but I'm very
glad to see things like this happening and big kudos are deserved by all
involved.

Even the article here is better than most--I love how it linked even to the
blog comment that gave Tao the impetus to investigate the connection and I
would love to see things like this become standard for proper scientific
reporting (i.e. if something happened online, give us a link). That should be
standard practice, but it's so often neglected that it makes this article much
more thorough than the average.

------
daniel-levin
>> Though the proof has not undergone a rigorous peer review, experts
expressed no concern over whether it would survive a critical look.

Such is people's confidence in Terence Tao - not unfounded by any means - but
the result has not been peer reviewed yet. Tim Gowers has said that they'll be
conservative in their review process [0] so any errors will probably be picked
up quickly.

[0] [https://gowers.wordpress.com/2015/09/10/discrete-analysis-
an...](https://gowers.wordpress.com/2015/09/10/discrete-analysis-an-arxiv-
overlay-journal/)

~~~
niels_olson
Any use of the word "conservative" outside a quantitative comparison should at
least be disregarded and at most set off alarm bells that a deceit is
underway. In no case should you draw any further conclusions about the outcome
based on some presumed directionality of such a qualitative modifier.
"Conservative compared to what?"

~~~
monochromatic
... what?

------
captn3m0
Discussion from a few days back on the paper itself:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10238373](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10238373)

~~~
dang
There's also
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10247132](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10247132).

The OP is a pretty fun article to read, so let's not count it as a dupe.

------
juliangamble
While we're on Erdős and Terrance Tao, Terrance has an Erdős number of 2
([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_people_by_Erd%C5%91s_n...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_people_by_Erd%C5%91s_number#.232))
so whilst having met Erdős as a boy
([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terence_Tao#Personal_life](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terence_Tao#Personal_life))
he never collaborated with him on a paper. (Probably due to differences in
ages).

It's amazing to see the influence Paul Erdős had on people. There is a
children's story (that I read to my kids) about his incredible life.
[http://www.amazon.com/The-Boy-Who-Loved-
Math/dp/1596433078](http://www.amazon.com/The-Boy-Who-Loved-
Math/dp/1596433078)

~~~
witty_username
*Terence

------
mgdo
It would be cool if somenone annotated this paper on Fermat's Library, would
to get a better grasp of it: [http://fermatslibrary.com/s/the-erdos-
discrepancy-problem](http://fermatslibrary.com/s/the-erdos-discrepancy-
problem)

Anyone? =)

------
6841iam
anyone know where the comment was made?

~~~
Jyaif
Looks like [https://terrytao.wordpress.com/2015/09/06/sign-patterns-
of-t...](https://terrytao.wordpress.com/2015/09/06/sign-patterns-of-the-
mobius-and-liouville-functions/#comment-459021)

~~~
yskchu
Yes, it's listed on the nature article...

~~~
Natsu
Not sure why this was downvoted. There is a link to the comment at the end of
the article, which surprised me a little in a good way.

------
myth_buster
$500 is close to $6.5K inflation adjusted. Although it makes sense to frame
it.

------
plonh
When a chemist makes a discovery , do they call them a "chem whizz"?

------
ipsum2
Subtitle: "Terence Tao successfully attacks the Erdős Discrepancy Problem by
building on an online collaboration."

First paragraph: "A mathematical puzzle that resisted solution for 80 years —
including computerized attempts to crack it — appears to have yielded to a
single mathematician."

This irks me.

~~~
jasode
_> by building on an online collaboration." [...] appears to have yielded to a
single mathematician."_

 _> This irks me._

It didn't bother me because I don't interpret the "collaboration" and "single
mathematician" as contradictory. In other words, all mathematics is built upon
group contributions whether the collaboration happens digitally online or via
letters transported across 17th century continental Europe.

In this case, "single mathematician" doesn't mean a person who discovered
_every_ insight and connected _all_ the dots. Instead, it means the one who
connected the _last_ dot. So far, it looks like Tao solved the last step of
the puzzle and no one else independently solved it and submitted a proof at
the same time. Contrast this situation to the invention of calculus which was
simultaneously created by Newton and Leibniz.

~~~
conistonwater
> _Contrast this situation to the invention of calculus which was
> simultaneously created by Newton and Leibniz._

There were plenty of precursors to calculus, coming from the likes of
Descartes, Fermat and Pascal. For example: [http://www-history.mcs.st-
and.ac.uk/HistTopics/The_rise_of_c...](http://www-history.mcs.st-
and.ac.uk/HistTopics/The_rise_of_calculus.html)

------
p4bl0
See also the blogpost on Tim Gowers' blog :
[https://gowers.wordpress.com/2015/09/20/edp28-problem-
solved...](https://gowers.wordpress.com/2015/09/20/edp28-problem-solved-by-
terence-tao/) :).

~~~
ColinWright
Indeed, and submitted here:

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10247132](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10247132)

The title there was:

    
    
        Gowers on Terrence Tao's solution
        to the Erdős discrepancy problem
    

The title here started out as:

    
    
        Maths whizz solves
        a master's riddle
    

I suspect the click-baity title helped this submission get early views and
early votes. The other, more factual title was probably just mostly ignored.
It would be interesting to know how many click-throughs that earlier
submission got.

------
muhic
Am I the only one who noticed the smoothest self-promotion ever in the comment
section?

 _Very interesting post, such a good read. Glad I came across it. Flitwick
Blinds often use advanced mathematics when calculating conservatory roof
blinds or shaped shutters at[http://www.flitwick-
blinds.co.uk*](http://www.flitwick-blinds.co.uk*)

~~~
plonh
Please don't repost spam comments here.

