Iraq-born teen cracks maths puzzle

Well this kid knows the difference between what he reads and what he is thinking.

Most people on this site uses Google to prove what they know. Or they use google as their own knowledge.

The clue is to always know that what you read is only what you read.
Knowledge comes from what you can make out of what you read.

If not you will only have the knowledge of what some one else wrote before you.

Problem here (i am swedish) is that swedish media got it all wrong. Still of course hes a math genius but he did solve a problem thats already been known. But he did it in hes own way or something like that...sry for explaining badly but..

here is a translation with a Correction:

Clarification: It was previously interpreted as Mohammed Altoumaimi found a solution that no one done before. It is not true. The solution in the past, but Mohammed has itself found a formula to solve it.

As I recall the story of the numbers is that Bernoulli himself had found a simple formula for the numbers. He had written it on the side of page on some book but for some reason that was destroyed or lost. Ever since that it's been a 'quest' to rediscover that simple formula.
Correct me if I remember wrong

The boy is brilliant, yes, but to further corroborate other posters, mathematicians appear to have known many solutions to the "problem" of deriving these numbers. That a 16 year old did it is impressive, and I hope he does well. I wish I could do something half as good as he does math.

Yes, I know it's Wikpedia, but here's what i found:

In 2009, a sixteen year-old Iraqi immigrant living in Sweden submitted a proof to Uppsala University, correctly simplifying the computation of Bernoulli numbers. Mathematicians claim this proof has been discovered before and is well known in the field. [1] [2] [3] [4]

Page

Yeah it's true that much of our math knowledge comes from the arab world, even the word algebra...Al-gebra, is arabic, amongst a number of other mathematical terms.

Originally posted by AltruisticNarcissist
Yeah it's true that much of our math knowledge comes from the arab world, even the word algebra...Al-gebra, is arabic, amongst a number of other mathematical terms.

Actually most of it comes from the Ancient Greeks - it =- knowledge was lost due to the rise of the church - the arabs were great contributors - however they were in truth more repositories of knowledge than founders.

One of the great and i mean GREAT contributions which comes directly from arabic is our numerical system - you all write in arabic with numbers

123456789
is about as arabic as it gets - however it was the Chinese who invented 0 zero - the church banned this for centuries and there can never be nothing as god is everywhere - wierd.

Funnily enough, wiki has algebra being first used in ancient Babylonia - in other words Iraq..

While the word "algebra" comes from Arabic word (al-jabr, الجبر), its origins can be traced to the ancient Babylonians,[1] who developed an advanced arithmetical system with which they were able to do calculations in an algebraic fashion. With the use of this system they were able to apply formulas and calculate solutions for unknown values for a class of problems typically solved today by using linear equations, quadratic equations, and indeterminate linear equations.

en.wikipedia.org...

edit to add link

[edit on 31-5-2009 by AltruisticNarcissist]

Oh my good God, having just read every part of that wiki page for the Bernoulli numbers formula, I feel somewhat left behind by evolution. I can safely assume that anyone that has a very thorough understanding of what that page describes, has never and will never author a book lets say called " The Fine Art of Cunnilingus"

Mega kudos for the kid. It just reveals the brightness and innocence of a young mind.
I theorize that a newborn is at the most intelligent phase of life, knowing all of the universe's secrets. Hold a newborn and feel the completeness and purity of its knowledge and confidence. (we feed them formulas !?)
The older we get , we are de-educated to a level more condusive to exploitation by the system.
To a child anything is possible.
I miss those days.
No one ever claps anymore when #2 occurs lol.

G.

[edit on 31-5-2009 by gypsychology909]

Just great ruin it for everyone else why doesn't he.

Well I hope he plans on coming up with a new one himself and on a side note shove it into the faces of the mathematicians who claim it was already solved.

Wow, this is a great story, you figure that there were many mathematicians equipped with computers, calculators and many students, and high degrees and what not attempting to solve this for many years, just goes to show you the human mind is amazing, just as AltruisticNarcissist pointed out, I would add, launch a search on babylonian mathematics much of that laid the foundation for most of modern mathematical concepts.

[edit on 31-5-2009 by phinubian]

That's great! Just hope the NSA doesn't snatch hm up!

Originally posted by searching4truth
Iraq was not a backwards nation it has always had a very high literacy rate and has had great quality educational facilities, now I do not know who much of the general population had access, but given the literacy rates I would say that it was available to the masses.

Yes, Iraq was considered close to being a developed country until Saddam decided to invade Kuwait and got his country bombed into the stone age. Further still, Iraqis are an ancient people with a very deep culture. I am just thankful people like this kid have survived so that when they grow up, they can rebuild their country.

Let's hope another hit squad does not go about assassinating another batch of Iraqi scientists and mathematicians.

Originally posted by jagskotpalme
Problem here (i am swedish) is that swedish media got it all wrong. Still of course hes a math genius but he did solve a problem thats already been known. But he did it in hes own way or something like that...sry for explaining badly but..

here is a translation with a Correction:

Clarification: It was previously interpreted as Mohammed Altoumaimi found a solution that no one done before. It is not true. The solution in the past, but Mohammed has itself found a formula to solve it.

Not really, the formula is known and also available on the net. What they missed about his work was how he got to the formula in the first place, all his proofs and calculations, if that work is his own i.e original it is amazing but it can also be ripped off the net. Sites like arxiv.org have loads of maths, physics with full proofs, complete works and other wacko things.

While it's not the first time that someone has shown such Bernoulli number relationships, it's highly unusual for a first year high school student to make his way through the complicated calculations, according to Uppsala University senior maths lecturer Lars-Åke Lindahl.

reply to post by EnlightenUp


That kid is not in any mathematics team at the University of Uppsala. He did it by himself and he is still at school.

Originally posted by masonwatcher
reply to post by EnlightenUp

 

That kid is not in any mathematics team at the University of Uppsala. He did it by himself and he is still at school.

I know. Uppsala has stated as such. However, the brakes need to be put on the following false claim (emboldened):

16-year-old Iraqi immigrant living in Sweden has cracked a maths puzzle that has stumped experts for more than 300 years...

Perhaps it would have been more accurate to say that experts can still be stumped by the problem because of its difficulty so as not to imply it has never been previously solved.

[edit on 5/31/2009 by EnlightenUp]

[edit on 5/31/2009 by EnlightenUp]

There is a remarkable aspect to this OP. Nice contribution - star and flag for you!

I notice that there is some interest, on a few rather transient facts surrounding this article.

While it may seem noteworthy at first, I think on further consideration you may want to reconsider (as appropriate):

The young man is an Iraqi. I think reporting this fact is not without merit. It shouldn't be ascribed a 'propaganda' motive lightly. I think it is a fact which one can interpret as you might be inclined. But in the end, this element in and of itself is not as noteworthy as the reality that mathematical principles are not concealed for only certain initiates within scholarly enclaves.

The problem-solver is young. Again, this is only a salient point to those who insist upon the social paradigm that youth's cannot be expected to achieve mathematical insight and sensitivity; ask any old scholar, they'll tell you so.

What's most important about this story to me is the accidental affirmation it provides. The couching of the story is mundane, it is true that the equation in question had been more thoroughly investigated earlier than the author acknowledged. But this young man resolved it by virtue of simplicity and elegance belying his relative inexperience.

I can easily imagine the scenario wherein the educators he initially approached were daunted and perhaps a bit 'put-off' by the claim the young man was making. This human dynamic has been witnessed by many. It's 'the human angle' that most editors insist on presenting in such reports.

The accidental affirmation I am alluding to is that mathematical principles - the very root of our understanding of reality - are not concealed. We do not need councils of 'authoritarian' academician scholarly institutes to find. We do not need hordes of industrially-sponsored autocracies driving the progress of human knowledge.

This is news because such mathematical achievements are inconvenient to the status quo. Imagine, if you will, if more of OUR children were actually educated as this young man was. I bet we'd make new discoveries and improvements in our lives every day.

Mathematics is a language. Comprehension of it's principles is not a matter of indebtedness to institutions, but it was, and is, in a very real case, happening in our educational institutions even now.

reply to post by EnlightenUp


It was solved by the originator of the problem but lost. Subsequent generations of mathematicians couldn't figure it out until this kid came bouncing along. Quite impressive and he is an Arab too. Must p*ss off rampaging neocons and various kinds of racial/religious supremacists. I just hope this kid is not assassinated.

[edit on 043131p://pm3146 by masonwatcher]

Why is this man still in Sweden? We must have the Pentagon recruit him for the DoD. We are going to need all we can get to help calculate this debt we have amassed.
On a serious note, congratulations to the teen for coming up with a formula to solve it!

The original article makes one thing clear: Nothing of what the youngster figured out, was whether groundbreaking or new to the scientific community. What they say is that it's a sensation that a man his age could figure it out, mostly or entirely on his own. If you read Swedish, like I do, please read the article behind the link below....

www.dn.se...

And if you don't read Swedish or don't believe me, visit the Wikipedia article below for proofs:

en.wikipedia.org...

funny how everyone is "so impressed" by his age - age is just a number

... get it? i know i'm hilarious.