Category Archives: abc Conjecture

ABC is Still a Conjecture

Posted on March 4, 2021 by woit

Just a reminder that the abc conjecture is still a conjecture, there is no known valid proof (don’t believe what you might read in an EMS journal). For more about why one attempted proof doesn’t work, see here and here. … Continue reading →

Posted in abc Conjecture | 78 Comments

Why the Szpiro Conjecture is Still a Conjecture

Posted on April 18, 2020 by woit

There has been a remarkable discussion going on for the past couple weeks in the comment section of this blog posting, which gives a very clear picture of the problems with Mochizuki’s claimed proof of the Szpiro conjecture. These problems … Continue reading →

Posted in abc Conjecture | 39 Comments

Latest on abc

Posted on April 3, 2020 by woit

Davide Castelvecchi at Nature has the story this morning of a press conference held earlier today at Kyoto University to announce the publication by Publications of the Research Institute for Mathematical Sciences (RIMS) of Mochizuki’s purported proof of the abc … Continue reading →

Posted in abc Conjecture | 136 Comments

Scholze and Stix on the Mochizuki Proof

Posted on September 20, 2018 by woit

As discussed here a couple months ago, Peter Scholze and Jakob Stix believe they have found a serious problem with Mochizuki’s claimed proof of the abc conjecture, and traveled to Kyoto in March to discuss it with him. Their write-up … Continue reading →

Posted in abc Conjecture | 37 Comments

abc News

Posted on July 17, 2018 by woit

[For those not up to speed on this story, see blog posts here and here from last December, as well as comments to those posts.] The last couple months I’ve heard reports from several people claiming that arithmetic geometers Peter … Continue reading →

Posted in abc Conjecture | 24 Comments

Latest on abc

Posted on December 16, 2017 by woit

I’ve seen reports today (see here and here) that indicate that Mochizui’s IUT papers, which are supposed to contain a proof of the abc conjecture, have been accepted by the journal Publications of the RIMS. Some of the sources for … Continue reading →

Posted in abc Conjecture, Favorite Old Posts | 62 Comments

Monumental Proof to Torment Mathematicians for Years to Come

Posted on July 28, 2016 by woit

Davide Castelvecchi at Nature has talked to some of the mathematicians at the recent Kyoto workshop on Mochizuki’s proposed proof of the abc conjecture, and written up a summary under the appropriate title Monumental proof to torment mathematicians for years … Continue reading →

Posted in abc Conjecture | 46 Comments

White Smoke Over Oxford?

Posted on December 10, 2015 by woit

I’ve stolen the title of this posting from Michael Harris, see his posting for a discussion of the same topic. A big topic of discussion among mathematicians this week is the ongoing workshop at Oxford devoted to Mochizuki’s claimed proof … Continue reading →

Posted in abc Conjecture | 37 Comments

Back

Posted on January 13, 2015 by woit

Now back from vacation, and as far as I can tell, not much happened while I was away. Here are a few things I’ve seen that may be of interest: Mochizuki has posted a long progress report on “activities devoted … Continue reading →

Posted in abc Conjecture, Uncategorized | 32 Comments

Latest on abc

Posted on December 19, 2013 by woit

In case you haven’t been following this story, “abc” refers to a famous conjecture in number theory, for which Shin Mochizuki claimed last year (see here) to have found a proof. His argument for abc involves a new set of … Continue reading →

Posted in abc Conjecture | 32 Comments