Sep 17, 2011

Goodness Me, Fancy That, Who'd Ever Have Thought It!


Christian Goldbach (1690 - 1764)

Did you know that all EVEN numbers greater than 2 are the sum of not more than two PRIME numbers?

e.g. 4=2+2, 6=3+3, 18=11+7 etc.  

This so-called "GOLDBACH CONJECTURE" has been checked for billions of even numbers but never proved.  Well, I have a wonderful proof, which unfortunately, won't fit into 55 words. Pity!


(The renowned G-Man invites us to debate the State of Nations etc in 55±0 words.  Along with G-Man, I wish all bloggers a kick-ass weekend checking out all the even numbers they can think of . . . . )

15 comments:

  1. I know an even number which doesn't obey Goldbach's Conjecture, but unfortunately it has far too many digits to fit into this "comment' window. HAHAHA!!

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  2. Good Lord, Doctor FTSE who borrowed whose dressing gown?

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  3. Once I graduated from HS, I never needed complicated math again... Thank God! ...the gentleman in the photo even looks bored to tears! :)

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  4. This statement I've found while reading about C. Goldbach, has made me blow a gasket-

    'the largest known prime number has about 13 million decimal digits'

    Shoot!

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  5. Jinksy . . . and that one won't be the biggest! Long, long ago Euclid showed by a process of pure logic that there is no LARGEST prime. The primes are infinite in number. Note also that if you add that 13 million digit prime to itself, you generate another EVEN number, like Dr. Goldbach said!

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  6. Doc....
    Math Grrrrrr....
    Except for the number 55 of course
    Of which yours is most appreciated.
    Thanks for playing, and have a Kick Ass Sunday!

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  7. Dr. Dr.,

    Could you rephrase that please? Because the way my admittedly ill-functioning, road-weary brain reads your first sentence, it doesn't seem quite right. 18 ,for example, can also be the sum of 3+3+3+3+3+3.

    Oh.

    Not more than 2 diiiiifferent numbers.

    So how about that number 55? 51 + 3 + 1??? Is 1 not prime? Why do I persist in making a fool of myself here instead of googling this?

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  8. Hello Deborah! I think you may have misread my statement of Goldbach's Conjecture. " . . . the sum of NOT MORE THAN TWO prime numbers.

    Note - A Google search will point you to several proofs of the Conjecture, but I believe they have all been shown to be erroneous.

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  9. lolsss!
    Some mathematical fun!!

    hugs xo

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  10. I so glad Deborah had as many problems as me...

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  11. You sound just like my maths teacher. Kind, but kind of long-suffering, too.

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  12. Let's stick together at the back of the class, Jinksy.

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  13. Deborah, Jinksy . . . which bit of "Every even number is the sum of not more than two prime numbers" don't you understand? You don't need to understand the proof of Goldbach's conjecture because (so far) there isn't one.

    38 =31+7 is another fine example!

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  14. It's obvious, like Einstein's theory of Relativity. Ho hum! :-)

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