Re: Factoring paper is wrong

From: Bob Silverman (anonymous_at_mathforum.org)
Date: 06/17/04 

Date: Thu, 17 Jun 2004 18:25:44 +0000 (UTC)

On 16 Jun 2004, Quinn wrote:

<snip>

>Well, you advocate getting at the ideas rather than the people.
>
>let a+1=b+1,
>therefore a = b
>
>Proving statements such as the above don't necessarily invite passionate
>minds to tackle them. Certain categories of maths problems invite certain
>passionate types to try to best them:
>
>Let X be some arbitrary integer s.t. N > 4.
>
> int N = X;
> while((N = N&1 ? 3*N+1 : N/2) != 1);
>
> (1.0)
>
>Prove that 1.0 terminates for any X.
>
>All of a sudden, all kinds of personalities get into the mix.

<snip>

What surprises me is the following.

Why do people who are totally lacking in mathematical maturity and
mathematical education think that somehow they are going to find
a magic proof that has escaped experts?

I doubt whether these same people would ever considering doing (say)
brain surgery. Yet they are just as ignorant about one subject as the
other.

I am sure that these people recognize that they do not have the
education or experience to do brain surgery. Why is it that they do
NOT have the same cognizance about their lack of math skills? Why
do they stubbornly cling to ideas that experts point out are wrong?
Instead, they attack the experts! I doubt that they would attack
a doctor who told them that they had no surgical skills.

If one argues that *unsolved* problems attracts such people, why
don't we get people who claim that they have found a cure for (say)
cerebral palsy? That too is an unsolved problem.

What is it about math in particular that attracts incompetents to
believe that they can solve problems that experts can not? Why do
they then attack experts who tell them that they are wrong?