Notice: It turns out to be a little difficult to maintain 4 blogs. So, I am merging my tech-stuff with this blog - and will add a new category.
The two small problems, unrelated to my main work, which I worked on are (i) The 3n+1 problem and (2) The maximum matching problem.
I could successfully re-phrase the 3n+1 problem into different words, but no proof what so ever was found. Anyway I wasn't very hopeful either. I am happy to have done my fair share of breaking my head.
Regarding the matching problem, the solution is not about correctness, it is about speed. What I initially had in mind turned out to be wrong; I improved on it and have a solid solution, but all depends on how fast it is. That analysis is still remaining.
There is something which I have been wanting for 2-3 years. Fermat's Last Theorem (FLT) is something which has contributed a lot to the development of mathematics - over 300 years. There is no wonder that Andrew Wiles cried when he found the proof. What I want is to just learn his proof - yes, I know that it could turn out to be really hard.
Wiles alone has worked on it for about 7 years. And his proof is built on lot of other theories and what he actually proves is TS-conjecture, which is the equivalent of FLT. So, learning it could be very hard indeed. Still, I think I shall try a little bit. Let me add that too to my TODO list.
Signing off, Sands.
PS: I couldn't help smiling when Shimura said "I told you so", when he heard about the proof for his conjecture. :)
