[math-fun] More innumeracy in high places
The quote below appeared in a column in the International Herald Tribune by Michael Johnson described as "a former correspondent for Business Week and The Associated Press." The column head was "2,3,5,7,1,13,,19,23 What comes next?" The article was about the search for a ten million digit prime. About halfway down we find, "It was Euclid who started it all by identifying the smaller primes 2,300 years ago and predicting that the number of primes would turn out to be infinite [my italics] ." I don't know, wouldn't you think even the man or woman on the street should be able to digest Euclid's proof? I'm tempted to go out on the street and try to find out. "Look, Mary, suppose there were only a zillion of them. Well then, multiply them all together and add 1and you see . . . " What do you all think? David G
Have the formal methods folk been able to verify a formal version of Euclid's proof of the infinity of primes? At 06:13 AM 7/31/2004, David Gale wrote:
The quote below appeared in a column in the International Herald Tribune by Michael Johnson described as "a former correspondent for Business Week and The Associated Press." The column head was "2,3,5,7,1,13,,19,23 What comes next?" The article was about the search for a ten million digit prime.
About halfway down we find, "It was Euclid who started it all by identifying the smaller primes 2,300 years ago and predicting that the number of primes would turn out to be infinite [my italics] ."
I don't know, wouldn't you think even the man or woman on the street should be able to digest Euclid's proof?
I'm tempted to go out on the street and try to find out. "Look, Mary, suppose there were only a zillion of them. Well then, multiply them all together and add 1and you see . . . " What do you all think?
David G
At the ams.org, and many other places (including GIMPS), the phrase "The Largest Known Prime" is used repeatedly. There must be some other way to report Mersenne prime progress without using this unfortunate phrase, which finds itself into the media and can be easily misconstrued as "Largest Prime Found." I don't have a good replacement though. Maybe just "Larger" instead? David Gale wrote:
The quote below appeared in a column in the International Herald Tribune by Michael Johnson described as "a former correspondent for Business Week and The Associated Press." The column head was "2,3,5,7,1,13,,19,23 What comes next?" The article was about the search for a ten million digit prime.
About halfway down we find, "It was Euclid who started it all by identifying the smaller primes 2,300 years ago and /predicting /that the number of primes would / turn out/ to be infinite [my italics] ."
I don't know, wouldn't you think even the man or woman on the street should be able to digest Euclid's proof? I'm tempted to go out on the street and try to find out. "Look, Mary, suppose there were only a zillion of them. Well then, multiply them all together and add 1and you see . . . " What do you all think?
David G
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-- Thane Plambeck thane@best.com http://www.plambeck.org
--- Thane Plambeck <thane@best.com> wrote:
At the ams.org, and many other places (including GIMPS), the phrase "The Largest Known Prime" is used repeatedly. There must be some other way to report Mersenne prime progress without using this unfortunate phrase, which finds itself into the media and can be easily misconstrued as "Largest Prime Found."
I don't have a good replacement though. Maybe just "Larger" instead?
David Gale wrote:
The quote below appeared in a column in the International Herald Tribune by Michael Johnson described as "a former correspondent for Business Week and The Associated Press." The column head was "2,3,5,7,1,13,,19,23 What comes next?" The article was about the search for a ten million digit prime.
About halfway down we find, "It was Euclid who started it all by identifying the smaller primes
2,300 years ago and /predicting /that the number of primes would / turn out/ to be infinite [my italics] ."
I don't know, wouldn't you think even the man or woman on the street should be able to digest Euclid's proof? I'm tempted to go out on the street and try to find out. "Look, Mary, suppose there were only a zillion of them. Well then, multiply them all together and add 1and you see . . . " What do you all think?
David G
Perhaps when the next Mersenne prime, or other larger known prime, is found, the professional mathematicians could carefully craft a press release. I would suggest that the release be done in a three stage format. First, state that a larger prime number has been identified, and also say what a prime number is. Second, emphasize that this is merely the largest <em>known</em> prime, and that there is no largest prime since there are infinitely many primes, and that this fact was proved by Eclid 2400 years ago. Third, give the proof. It would make for an interesting experiment to see what finally appears in print. Since the cardinality of the set of primes appears to have no political implications, there is some hope that such information would be undistorted, if only it is carefully explained to the journalists. Gene __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Take Yahoo! Mail with you! Get it on your mobile phone. http://mobile.yahoo.com/maildemo
=Thane Plambeck At the ams.org, and many other places (including GIMPS), the phrase "The Largest Known Prime" is used repeatedly. There must be some other way to report Mersenne prime progress without using this unfortunate phrase, which finds itself into the media and can be easily misconstrued as "Largest Prime Found."
The news is actually about a new level of human mathematical achievement, rather than the math itself. Phrases like "Largest Known Prime" muddle these domains, much as "Smallest Uninteresting Number" does. A headline like "Prime Number Record Broken" would be more apt (and more exciting). "Prime Bites Dog! News at Eleven..."
participants (5)
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David Gale -
Eugene Salamin -
Henry Baker -
Marc LeBrun -
Thane Plambeck