[RUME] Mathematical proofs becoming harder to verify?

[Jered Wasburn-Moses]

Jennifer:

I don't think that this is a new claim. Gila Hanna is perhaps the most
consistent, but by no means the only, writer making a similar claim for some
time. (The first sentence you quote is quite problematic, incidentally, as
Hanna and others would argue!)

Frequently cited mathematical events include the proof (?) of the 4-color
theorem and the classification of finite groups.

You also might look at something like Kitcher's The Nature of Mathematical
Knowledge (1983), which is somewhat outdated in this regard but still
informative, or the slightly more recent History of Mathematics: A Reader
(1987) by Fauvel and Gray.

Hope this helps,
--Jered


--- Jennifer Smith <jenn.smith at mail.utexas.edu> wrote:

> 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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> 


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