Math discovery versus math society

jstevh_at_msn.com
Date: 02/18/05 

Date: 18 Feb 2005 15:30:16 -0800

I am on my fourth major mathematical discovery. It is a new way to
factor integers. Mathematicians have so far managed to avoid properly
acknowledging all four of my discoveries.

I am an amateur mathematician. About three years ago I started on a
burst of creativity which has produced four major mathematical
discoveries. Before that I had over four years of failures, some of
them kind of big, as I'd proclaim I had wonderful simple proofs of
Fermat's Last Theorem, only to eventually find out I was wrong.

What I learned from public humiliation, and outright failure that
happened more than once, is in mathematics, wishes don't make truth,
great desire does not mean you are right, and if you are wrong, then
you are just wrong.

When you are wrong mathematically, it does not change. Giving it a
couple of days won't make it where you are right. Denial is just a
waste of time.

Two of my four results are without debate in terms of actually working,
but they are debated in terms of how important they are.

I have repeatedly brought up one, which is a formula that counts prime
numbers.

There is no debate about whether or not the formula works.

Math people just keep claiming it's not important.

Now I have a set of equations with which you can factor:

Ax= Az(-Az +/- sqrt((Az - 2M^2)^2 - 4TM^2))/(2j^2 - 2Az)

Az= Ax(-Ax +/- sqrt((Ax - 2j^2)^2 + 4Tj^2))/(2M^2 - 2Ax)

where T = M^2 - j^2.

Here you have a two equations defining rationals Ax and Az, where M is
the number to be factored and j is an integer you pick to try and
factor it.

They do work, if you can pick a rational Ax.

So, at this point, I'm not doing so well picking that rational Ax, so
the math people are jumping up and down, getting excited, and claiming
my result is not important, yet again.

Um, it's a new factoring method, at a base level, at such a base level
that no factoring method at this level has been discovered in
centuries.

Yeah, I can't quite get it to factor really big numbers yet (like
hundrds of digit numbers but I can factor smaller numbers) but it's new
factoring method.

Supposedly mathematicians care about such things.

One of the four results that is not so easily demonstrated, as a prime
counting formula, or a new way to factor, I wrote up in a paper, and
sent to a math journal, which after NINE FREAKING MONTHS, told me they
liked the paper and would publish.

Well someone posted that they were publishing my paper on the sci.math
newsgroup, and some sci.math'ers promptly began attacking the journal
and its editors in posts, talking about how horrible they were, etc.,
and THEN some of them decided it would be a good idea to send emails
challenging my paper.

Well I got an email the NEXT FREAKING DAY from the chief editor of the
journal who told me that publication was a mistake, and then he claimed
that he'd accidentally told me the paper was accepted, but included in
his email text posted by a sci.math'er the day before.

Then they just yanked my paper.

An electronic journal so for those of you who have thought about using
those, consider this experience. Some editor can try to just yank a
paper.

They didn't even leave anything there at first, so the pages were all
off, and eventually they settled on saying it was withdrawn:

http://www.emis.de/journals/SWJPAM/vol2-03.html

And that's from a math journal, when maybe you thought math people
followed freaking rules.

That journal no longer exists. I don't know exactly why, but they just
quietly shut down, though you can see what was in the journal from its
mirrors which are still up.

Weird math society. Freaking journal shuts down, its main website GONE
but you can still see it on freaking mirrors.

So what do you do?

You're an amateur mathematician, got major mathematical results, lots
of people on Usenet hate you and will email, get a paper shut down,
what do you do?

I don't know what you'd do, as you're not freaking me, but I re-wrote
the goddamn paper and sent it to a BIGGER journal.

That journal is at Princeton. The editor in charge of the section that
has my paper is Andrew Wiles.

I'm not freaking worried about freaking sci.math'ers and stupid emails
with this goddamn paper!

So yeah, it's great being me in many ways. I can peruse my own
research into prime numbers, or deep properties of algebraic integers,
or play with my own method for factoring--trying to figure out how to
get the goddamn thing to work!!!

But also, there are the negatives, the people still calling me names,
priding themselves on putting me down, feeling like they're doing
something with their hostile postings, and their webpages.

Hell! Life is something, eh?

...It's about time. History shows that what's happening now is what
happens with truly massive discoveries, as they so upset the status
quo.

And don't yap about Einstein or some other discoverer who supposedly
didn't go through this crap, as I have read the history thoroughly, and
you don't know as much as you think if you think even Einstein had an
easy going.

Besides, I'm no Einstein. I'm some guy who found out that there were
these relatively simple equations and formulas that the math people
missed, and I didn't.

But they want to make me hurt for it.

I say, screw them. I'll outlast them. And someday I'll dance on their
graves.

James Harris

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Math discovery versus math society
    ... > acknowledging all four of my discoveries. ... > Math people just keep claiming it's not important. ... > Supposedly mathematicians care about such things. ... > sent to a math journal, which after NINE FREAKING MONTHS, told me ...
    (sci.math)
  • Re: Math society, weird behavior
    ... You say you have *solved* the factoring problem ... > Yes I do get quite happy about my discoveries and that mixed with my ... > growing disdain for math society means that I probably sound really ... > Professional mathematicians push the idea that no amateur ...
    (sci.crypt)
  • Re: Math discovery versus math society
    ... > properly acknowledging all four of my discoveries. ... REAL mathematicians do, then lather, rinse, and repeat ... ... > Math people just keep claiming it's not important. ... journals follow were geared for this kind of a situation. ...
    (sci.math)
  • Math society, weird behavior
    ... Yes I do get quite happy about my discoveries and that mixed with my ... Professional mathematicians push the idea that no amateur mathematician ... but claim that was early in math history before all the foundations got ... they're fringe people in math society anyway, ...
    (sci.crypt)
  • Re: Math discovery versus math society
    ... do mathematics because your stupid theorem does not have a proof. ... > acknowledging all four of my discoveries. ... > Math people just keep claiming it's not important. ... > sent to a math journal, which after NINE FREAKING MONTHS, told me they ...
    (sci.math)