$1 Million For 150 Year Old Math Problem
Get this 150 year old math problem and you could win $1 million courtesy of the Clay Mathematics Institute. The Riemann Hypothesis is one of the most important math problems ever. Proposed by Bernhard Riemann in 1859, the Riemann Hypothesis deals with prime numbers. You know, those same prime numbers that are positive whole numbers that have only two positive whole number divisors: one and itself.
Example 2 = 2 and 1.
This is way out of my league. I think I am only good for simple mathematical equations. I have even forgotten Geometry and Trigonometry. Whew! I thought I would never finish College because of those.
Taken from CNN’s portion (since I cannot talk about this in my own words ha ha!). This hypothesis would be able to provide a better estimate than ever before of a special function denoted as Pi(x). Pi(x) represents the number of prime numbers that are no bigger than x, where x is a positive number. For example, Pi(14) would be 6, because there are six prime numbers (2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13) no bigger than 14. That’s probably the most understandable explanation you’re going to get that doesn’t involve “zeta functions” and other technical terms.
Given that many of the best mathematicians have tried and failed to provide a solution, the proof is probably not easy or obvious. But if you do get to solve this old problem, you will be rewarded heavily. Good luck to all you mathematicians out there!
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