On 9/3/06, Daniel Asimov <dasimov@earthlink.net> wrote: ...
I read the same article, and I found it well-written and fascinating; it's still available online, at < http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/articles/060828fa_fact2 >. I'ts become quite a samizdat article among mathematicians; at least two people forwarded to me the article or link after I'd already read it (not counting Hilarie's mention of it).
I thought the article did a pretty good job of explaining the mathematics, at least compared to any other article I've seen in a general publication, and especially a good job at describing the ambition and intrigue involved in claiming precedence on the "full" proof.
... Very interesting article; and surprising to find a piece of such length and depth on a mathematical topic in a non-scientific publication. This area has intrigued me from my student days, without my ever having become sufficiently motivated to make the effort required to understand properly what's going on. [I fondly recall one particular course on homotopy theory given by J. Frank Adams, half-way through which he was presented with a letter, signed by the entire undergraduate class, informing him simply that he had left them behind. He said he was going to have it framed. Or possibly its author, whose identity must be withheld to protect the guilty.] Can anybody out there suggest an introductory text suitable for a dilletante from computational geometry? WFL