Epic maths proof to be published despite major row

摘要

AFTER eight years, a mathematician is finally set to formally publish a proof that has baffled nearly everyone who has read it, including other mathematicians. In 2012, Shinichi Mochizuki at Kyoto University in Japan produced a huge proof claiming to have solved a long-standing problem called the ABC conjecture. The 500-page proof was written in an impenetrable style, and number theorists struggled with its ideas. The work has now been accepted in the peer-reviewed journal Publications of the Research Institute for Mathematical Sciences.