[105746] in Cypherpunks
RE: Goldbach's Conjecture
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Blake Buzzini)
Thu Nov 19 22:33:06 1998
From: "Blake Buzzini" <bab282@psu.edu>
To: "CypherPunks" <cypherpunks@Algebra.COM>
Date: Thu, 19 Nov 1998 22:17:54 -0500
In-Reply-To: <199811200034.SAA07327@einstein.ssz.com>
Reply-To: "Blake Buzzini" <bab282@psu.edu>
I could be wrong, but I thought Goldbach's conjecture was that every even
number could be expressed as the sum of *two* primes. This doesn't prohibit
repetition. Therefore, under Goldbach's conjecture:
4 -> 2 + 2
6 -> 3 + 3 but NOT 2 + 2 + 2
8 -> 5 + 3 but NOT 2 + 2 + 2
etc...
But I am a lowly freshman, so what do I know...
Blake Buzzini, PSU
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-cypherpunks@algebra.com [mailto:owner-cypherpunks@algebra.com]
On Behalf Of Jim Choate
Sent: Thursday, November 19, 1998 7:34 PM
To: Cypherpunks Distributed Remailer
Subject: Goldbach's Conjecture
If we go with the flow and exclude 1 (so we don't have to rewrite all our
theorems) and assume that all even numbers greater than 2 can be represented
as a sum of two prime factors we have a problem...
How does one sum 4?
2 + 2?
We certainly can't use 3 + 1. If we allow repetition *and* the number 2 as a
prime then all even numbers can be written as a string of 2's summed
appropriately.
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