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March 20, 2007

Mathematicians Successfully Scale Equivalent Of Mount Everest

Topics: General Science

Although it has no immediate uses, and you may need a PhD in math to understand what it means, the group has solved a 120-year-old problem previously thought impossible to solve - they have mapped the structure of E8.

A two dimensional representation of E8 (Peter McMullen and John Stembridge)

Yesterday mathematicians unveiled the answer to a problem that, if written out in tiny print, would cover an area the size of Manhattan: An object that is 57 dimensional, rather than the usual three dimensional ones that we are familiar with, and first discovered in the 19th century, and for which there is evidence that it could contain the structure of the cosmos.

Mathematicians are known for their solitary style of working, but the combined assault on what is described as "one of the largest and most complicated structures in mathematics" required the effort of 18 mathematicians from America and Europe for an intensive four-year collaboration.

The feat may baffle most people but could have unforeseen implications in mathematics and physics, which won't be evident for years to come, said the American Institute of Mathematics.

"The group of symmetries of this strange geometry called E8 is one of the most intriguing structures that Nature has left for the mathematician to play with,"

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Posted by Richard at March 20, 2007 12:03 AM

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