MILLION DOLLAR MATHS PUZZLE SPARKS ROW
Baku, August 11 (AZERTAC). A claim to have solved one of the most difficult riddles in mathematics has been challenged by scientists, according to the BBC.
Vinay Deolalikar, a mathematician based at Hewlett-Packard laboratories in California, US, claims to have solved the problem of P vs NP.
This has been described as the biggest problem in computer science; it is one of seven Millennium Prize Problems set out by the Clay Mathematics Institute.
But maths experts have weighed in to point out flaws in his proof.
Clay has offered one million US dollars in prize money for the solution of each of these problems, which they declared to be the most difficult in maths.
Dr Deolalikar published his proof in a detailed manuscript, which is available on the HP website. His equations, he said demonstrated "the separation of P from NP".
If this is the case, Dr Deolalikar will be the first person to have proven that there is a difference between recognizing the correct solution to a problem and actually generating the correct answer.
From cracking codes to airline scheduling - any computational problem where you could recognize the right answer, this would tell us if there were a way to automatically find that answer.
Other news in this section
