[RUME] Mathematical proofs becoming harder to verify?

[Jennifer Smith]

A colleague sent this URL to me, and I am really curious to hear what others
think!

Title: Mathematical Proofs Getting Harder to Verify

Excerpt:

A mathematical proof is irrefutably true, a manifestation of pure logic. But
an increasing number of mathematical proofs are now impossible to verify
with absolute certainty, according to experts in the field.

"I think that we're now inescapably in an age where the large statements of
mathematics are so complex that we may never know for sure whether they're
true or false," says Keith Devlin of Stanford University in California, US.
"That puts us in the same boat as all the other scientists."

Link to story: http://www.newscientist.com/channel/fundamentals/dn8743.html

--
Jennifer Christian Smith
Assistant Professor
Center for Science and Mathematics Education
The University of Texas at Austin
Office: (512) 232-9682
Fax: (512) 471-8460
Home page: http://teachnet.edb.utexas.edu/~jenn_smith
<http://teachnet.edb.utexas.edu/%7Ejenn_smith>
AIM: drjennsmith
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