First proof that prime numbers come in pairs

[Still Waters]

It’s a result only a mathematician could love. Researchers hoping to get ‘2’ as the answer for a long-sought proof involving pairs of prime numbers are celebrating the fact that a mathematician has wrestled the value down from infinity to 70 million.

“That’s only [a factor of] 35 million away” from the target, quips Dan Goldston, an analytic number theorist at San Jose State University in California who was not involved in the work. “Every step down is a step towards the ultimate answer.”

http://www.nature.co...n-pairs-1.12989

[Q-C]

Analytical number theorist? I have to count on my fingers how many will be eating dinner. (I won't tell that only three live in our home)

Pretty cool though, brains are sexy.

Edited May 14, 2013 by QuiteContrary

[Abramelin]

Analytical number theorist? I have to count on my fingers how many will be eating dinner. (I won't tell that only three live in our home)

Pretty cool though, brains are sexy.

Then you'll love crows, lol:

Counting Crows:

A farmer in England found that every day he went in his blind in the field, the crows would stay away. But once he had left, they would fly into the fields and feed. He brought a friend with him one day to follow him into the blind, thinking the crows would spot one of them leaving and then come down to eat at the crops, thinking that no one was watching.

But the crows knew that a second man was still in the blind. The next day they tried it with another man, then another. The crows counted and subtracted. They knew that someone was still waiting for them in the blind. It was only after they reached 16 men that the crows lost count.

http://cappers.grit....le.aspx?id=8719

[Q-C]

Then you'll love crows, lol:

That is great, Abramelin! But I am not surprised. And I do love crows.

I'm not sure I could keep track, and I mean that, without keeping a written record.

I wonder, do the crows keep track individually or is there an appointed leader(s) who keeps track and scolds any individual who "jumps the gun"?