How about the problem of whether every even number greater than 2 is the sum of two primes? If I didn't know that was called the Goldbach conjecture, how would I find it?
As you pointed out, Google works for this one, but the general approach I use for questions like this is to search the OEIS for the number of ways that 2n (or n) can be represented as the sum of two primes. These lead to A045917 and A061358 which both lead to material on the Goldbach conjecture. Charles Greathouse Analyst/Programmer Case Western Reserve University On Sat, Apr 2, 2016 at 5:46 PM, Keith F. Lynch <kfl@keithlynch.net> wrote:
Veit Elser <ve10@cornell.edu> wrote:
There must be a better example. For this problem I would generate a list of even perfect numbers and get lots of hits on that. Somewhere in all that material there surely will be mention of the odd perfect number problem.
Fair enough. How about the problem of whether every even number greater than 2 is the sum of two primes? If I didn't know that was called the Goldbach conjecture, how would I find it?
Well, okay, Googling "sum of two primes" finds it. Never mind.
I imagine that most interesting problems can be perturbed in some way so that their solutions generate a searchable signature of large integers.
Meta-problem: Find a problem that doesn't generate anything searchable. Not sequences, not large integers, not unusual real numbers, not even unusual keywords. Bonus points if it's not obvious what, if any, existing branch of math it belongs to.
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