Wednesday, September 12, 2007
JSH: Let's recap
Years ago believing Andrew Wiles had found a proof of Fermat's Last Theorem I began wondering if there wasn't a simpler answer out there as what he had was so convoluted that he himself said it was impossible to explain simply to laypeople.
To myself I said that maybe with modern problem solving techniques not available over the centuries of searching in the past, and believing that maybe there was a simpler answer when mathematicians for the most part thought there was none, I might stumble across something, and so I began.
Eventually I ended up posting on math newsgroups versus bugging mathematicians in person or at journals which I'd done before, and entered a hellworld of insults and taunts from people who claimed to be mathematically adept.
Still I persevered and in December 1999 I introduced the technique I now call non-polynomial factorization where I use a complex identity and subtract an equation from it—just one step in concept from the normal use of identities.
Four more years later using that breakthrough I found a short proof of Fermat's Last Theorem and expected that I could convince serious members of the math community so I discussed it expecting that with time disagreement would die down as people realized I was right.
During that initial time I was arguing about my proof when I started thinking about counting prime numbers for some reason and within a few weeks had discovered a somewhat complex form of my prime counting function which over the months I simplified.
It was from my prime counting function that I realized that there was something seriously wrong with the math community as I stepped through ways it was like no other discovery in this area and mathematicians I contacted behaved oddly, while on newsgroups people just lied, repeatedly denying even the most obvious differences from what was previously known.
Persevering and hoping still I went back to my proof of Fermat's Last Theorem and isolated out one part of the argument and expanded it into a paper which I sent to a mathematical journal which formally peer reviewed and published it. I thought it was over and finally my research would be acknowledged.
But members of the sci.math newsgroup mounted an email campaign against the paper and convinced the editors who yanked it after publication. A few months later after one more edition the journal itself died.
The story is like some horror movie with one constant: a peanut gallery behaving demoniacally, with taunts and jeers.
I began to realize I was facing a monumental problem unlike any I could have imagined, and an world that did not behave as it should, as there were parallels in the rest of the world:
I began working on the factoring problem.
Now with an invention of surrogate factoring and a rapid development unlike any other in history where first there was a concept from a question, then there were mathematical equations, and then analysis, to find the best practical approach and now there is implementation closing in on a final solution, all within four years.
In contrast the congruence of squares approach with its penultimate level reached with the number field sieve took HUNDREDS of years to develop.
Meanwhile demonic taunts and insults continue from the math newsgroups as the world is on the brink.
In concert with my progress the financial world is crumbling and the US is on the brink of recession, and the taunts continue with one clear demand: give a factorization of an RSA Challenge number.
IF the worst case scenario occurs after that demand is met, the financial world may collapse, and the world as we know it now will be a thing of the past, so why is this happening?
Who could put together such an extraordinary sequence of events?
So I hold yet a little while longer while I ponder these questions.
What intelligence or intelligences, could be great enough to have created this situation? And why?
Why bother?
What does the human species matter anyway?
So I hold.
Who else is out there pulling the strings on all these puppets?
Dare you finally answer me clearly yet? Or must this sad, sick game continue still further?
To myself I said that maybe with modern problem solving techniques not available over the centuries of searching in the past, and believing that maybe there was a simpler answer when mathematicians for the most part thought there was none, I might stumble across something, and so I began.
Eventually I ended up posting on math newsgroups versus bugging mathematicians in person or at journals which I'd done before, and entered a hellworld of insults and taunts from people who claimed to be mathematically adept.
Still I persevered and in December 1999 I introduced the technique I now call non-polynomial factorization where I use a complex identity and subtract an equation from it—just one step in concept from the normal use of identities.
Four more years later using that breakthrough I found a short proof of Fermat's Last Theorem and expected that I could convince serious members of the math community so I discussed it expecting that with time disagreement would die down as people realized I was right.
During that initial time I was arguing about my proof when I started thinking about counting prime numbers for some reason and within a few weeks had discovered a somewhat complex form of my prime counting function which over the months I simplified.
It was from my prime counting function that I realized that there was something seriously wrong with the math community as I stepped through ways it was like no other discovery in this area and mathematicians I contacted behaved oddly, while on newsgroups people just lied, repeatedly denying even the most obvious differences from what was previously known.
Persevering and hoping still I went back to my proof of Fermat's Last Theorem and isolated out one part of the argument and expanded it into a paper which I sent to a mathematical journal which formally peer reviewed and published it. I thought it was over and finally my research would be acknowledged.
But members of the sci.math newsgroup mounted an email campaign against the paper and convinced the editors who yanked it after publication. A few months later after one more edition the journal itself died.
The story is like some horror movie with one constant: a peanut gallery behaving demoniacally, with taunts and jeers.
I began to realize I was facing a monumental problem unlike any I could have imagined, and an world that did not behave as it should, as there were parallels in the rest of the world:
- Enron collapsed dramatically after capturing the hopes of many with promises that turned out to be lies. So finance was involved.
- The Catholic Church finally was forced to acknowledge pedophilia among its priests after years of denial. So religion was involved.
- The US invaded Iraq under false pretenses relying on the thirst of the American people for revenge for the 9–11 terrorist attacks and kept up its invasion to this day despite much of the truth coming out. So politics was involved.
I began working on the factoring problem.
Now with an invention of surrogate factoring and a rapid development unlike any other in history where first there was a concept from a question, then there were mathematical equations, and then analysis, to find the best practical approach and now there is implementation closing in on a final solution, all within four years.
In contrast the congruence of squares approach with its penultimate level reached with the number field sieve took HUNDREDS of years to develop.
Meanwhile demonic taunts and insults continue from the math newsgroups as the world is on the brink.
In concert with my progress the financial world is crumbling and the US is on the brink of recession, and the taunts continue with one clear demand: give a factorization of an RSA Challenge number.
IF the worst case scenario occurs after that demand is met, the financial world may collapse, and the world as we know it now will be a thing of the past, so why is this happening?
Who could put together such an extraordinary sequence of events?
So I hold yet a little while longer while I ponder these questions.
What intelligence or intelligences, could be great enough to have created this situation? And why?
Why bother?
What does the human species matter anyway?
So I hold.
Who else is out there pulling the strings on all these puppets?
Dare you finally answer me clearly yet? Or must this sad, sick game continue still further?
# posted by James Harris @ 23:37 
