In 2019, mathematicians finally solved a math puzzle that had stumped them for decades. It’s called a Diophantine Equation, and it’s sometimes known as the “summing of three cubes”: Find x, y, and z such that x³+y³+z³=k, for each k from one to 100. On the surface, it seems easy. Can you think of the integers for x, y, and z so that x³+y³+z³=8? Sure. One answer is x = 1, y = -1, and z = 2. But what about the integers for x, y, and z so that x³+y³+z³=42? That turned out to be much harder-as in, no one was able to solve for those integers for 65 years until a supercomputer finally came up with the solution to 42. (For the record: x = -80538738812075974, y = 80435758145817515, and z = 12602123297335631. Obviously.) That’s the beauty of math: There’s always an answer for everything, even if takes years, decades, or even centuries to find it. So here are nine more brutally difficult math problems that once seemed impossible until mathematicians found a breakthrough. PLUS: This Inmate Used Solitary Confinement to Learn Math. Now He's Solving the World's Hardest Equations. A Mathematician Has Finally Solved the Infamous Goat Problem This Math Puzzle Stumped MIT Applicants on the 1876 Entrance Exam ADVERTISEMENT - CONTINUE READING BELOW
In 2019, mathematicians finally solved a math puzzle that had stumped them for decades. It’s called a Diophantine Equation, and it’s sometimes known as the “summing of three cubes”: Find x, y, and z such that x³+y³+z³=k, for each k from one to 100.
On the surface, it seems easy. Can you think of the integers for x, y, and z so that x³+y³+z³=8? Sure. One answer is x = 1, y = -1, and z = 2. But what about the integers for x, y, and z so that x³+y³+z³=42?
That turned out to be much harder-as in, no one was able to solve for those integers for 65 years until a supercomputer finally came up with the solution to 42. (For the record: x = -80538738812075974, y = 80435758145817515, and z = 12602123297335631. Obviously.)
That’s the beauty of math: There’s always an answer for everything, even if takes years, decades, or even centuries to find it. So here are nine more brutally difficult math problems that once seemed impossible until mathematicians found a breakthrough.
PLUS:
This Inmate Used Solitary Confinement to Learn Math. Now He's Solving the World's Hardest Equations.
A Mathematician Has Finally Solved the Infamous Goat Problem
This Math Puzzle Stumped MIT Applicants on the 1876 Entrance Exam
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