http://science.slashdot.org/story/12/09/10/226217/possible-proof-of-abc-conj... Posted by <http://unknownlamer.org/>Unknown Lamer on Monday September 10, @06:54PM from the lord-of-the-proof dept. <http://blog.submeta.org/>submeta writes "Shinichi Mochizuki of Kyoto University has released a <http://www.kurims.kyoto-u.ac.jp/%7Emotizuki/Inter-universal%20Teichmuller%20Theory%20I.pdf>paper which claims to prove the decades-old <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abc_conjecture>ABC conjecture, which involves the <http://www.nature.com/news/proof-claimed-for-deep-connection-between-primes-1.11378>relationship between prime numbers, addition, and multiplication. His solution involves thinking of numbers not as members of sets (the standard interpretation), but instead as objects which exist in '<http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn22256-fiendish-abc-proof-heralds-new-mathematical-universe.html>new, conceptual universes.' As one would expect, the proof is extremely dense and difficult to understand, even for experts in the field, so it may take a while to verify. However, Mochizuki has a strong reputation, so this is likely to get attention. Proof of the conjecture could potentially lead to a revolution in number theory, including a greatly simplified proof of <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fermat%27s_last_theorem>Fermat's Last Theorem." --- co-chair http://ocjug.org/