Could someone who follows this more closely explain how big a leap "wikimath" is from having these discussions on Usenet and mailing lists? So far as blogs go, I can see no difference at all -- the most complex commenting systems approach the "thread-ability" of e-mail.
- Pranesh --------- http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20727742.800-flawed-proof-ushers-in-era-of-wikimath.html HIS prospects of answering one of the biggest questions in mathematics [may be fading][1], but [Vinay Deolalikar][2] of Hewlett-Packard Labs in Palo Alto, California, may still have made his mark. His proposed proof of the "P versus NP" problem led to a flurry of online activity that points to a new way of doing mathematics - via blogs and wikis. [1]: /article/dn19313-tide-turns-against-milliondollar-maths-proof.html [2]: http://www.hpl.hp.com/personal/Vinay_Deolalikar/ "It was at least the catalyst for some very interesting discussion and developments," says [Terence Tao][3] at the University of California, Los Angeles, one of several computer scientists and mathematicians who have raced to make sense of the proof since it [exploded onto the web last week][4]. [3]: http://www.math.ucla.edu/~tao/ [4]: /article/dn19287-p--np-its-bad-news-for-the-power-of-computing.html Much of this activity took place on the blog of [Richard Lipton][5], a computer scientist at the Georgia Institute of Technology. A [wiki][6] was also set up to gather opinions on the proof, which if true sets limits on what computers can do, with implications for cryptography. [5]: http://www.scs.gatech.edu/people/richard-lipton [6]: http://michaelnielsen.org/polymath1/index.php?title=Deolalikar%27s_P!%3DNP_paper But on 13 August, Lipton posted an [email][7] from computer scientist [Neil Immerman][8] of the University of Massachusetts, who claimed to have found a "serious hole" in Deolalikar's paper. Since then, the tide has turned against the proof - although the online discussions continue. [7]: http://rjlipton.wordpress.com/2010/08/12/fatal-flaws-in-deolalikars-proof/ [8]: http://www.cs.umass.edu/~immerman/
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