<story><title>Biggest mystery in mathematics in limbo after cryptic meeting</title><url>http://www.nature.com/news/biggest-mystery-in-mathematics-in-limbo-after-cryptic-meeting-1.19035</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>JonnieCache</author><text>Here&amp;#x27;s a detailed report on the situation from one Brian Conrad, who attended the meeting: &lt;a href=&quot;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;mathbabe.org&amp;#x2F;2015&amp;#x2F;12&amp;#x2F;15&amp;#x2F;notes-on-the-oxford-iut-workshop-by-brian-conrad&amp;#x2F;&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;mathbabe.org&amp;#x2F;2015&amp;#x2F;12&amp;#x2F;15&amp;#x2F;notes-on-the-oxford-iut-works...&lt;/a&gt;</text></comment>
<story><title>Biggest mystery in mathematics in limbo after cryptic meeting</title><url>http://www.nature.com/news/biggest-mystery-in-mathematics-in-limbo-after-cryptic-meeting-1.19035</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>logicallee</author><text>I don&amp;#x27;t understand how something, that anyone understands, can be this cryptic.  Someone some time ago mentioned that all of Einstein&amp;#x27;s major papers on special and general relativitiy can be covered in a semester or two.&lt;p&gt;Isn&amp;#x27;t the hard part discovering this stuff?&lt;p&gt;How can anyone discover mathematical proofs but it is so impossible to communicate them that nobody in the world can follow your train of thought?  I mean people are really, really good at communicating.  It&amp;#x27;s kind of what we do.&lt;p&gt;I don&amp;#x27;t understand how anyone can publish proofs that don&amp;#x27;t succumb easily to understanding by experts who concentrate on them for a long time, perhaps with tiny hints by the author.&lt;p&gt;It&amp;#x27;s not as though we&amp;#x27;re looking at fragments written in a long-lost language we have no access to, from a culture nobody has access to, on unknown subjects, and with the authors dead hundreds of years ago!  The author is right there.  The subject isn&amp;#x27;t even art (like poetry criticism or something), it&amp;#x27;s fully rigorous.&lt;p&gt;Understanding someone&amp;#x27;s proof (for devoted experts) should be easy, right?  What gives?</text></comment>