[QUOTE=R.D. Silverman;275711]The first question is meaningless. There is no way to measure "how far
away" we are from any unproven conjecture. There is no metric.
A proof may require just one little small idea beyond what we have
now, or it may require totally new ideas. There is no way to know or
measure the gap.

The factoring just raises the bound. It's been raised to 10^1500.
What they hope to accomplish by raising it further eludes me. It does
not aid in a proof. 10^1500 is just as far from oo as 10.[/QUOTE]

The first question isn't completely meaningless...it is pretty clear, that when Andrew Wiles went to work on FLT in dead earnest, that he knew he was close to proving Fermat's last theorem -- he could state the missing piece, and he thought he could provide it, eventually. [It's also math folklore that it was stated the theorem might be proved by combining the french and german schools of thought on the subject] It should also be clear to you from my question that followed that I knew the answer might not be known.

[QUOTE=Zeta-Flux;275713]We've said it before, but we might as well say it again. We hope to get some intuition on the problem.

But 10^1500 is not just as far from 0 as 10 is.

------

On the topic of the thread, if you define something so that it is inconsistent then of course it will equal anything else.

Is perfection a state or a process? If it is a process, then those who are perfect (i.e. working towards betterment) must simultaneously be imperfect (because progress is happening).[/QUOTE]

By way of no apology, I posted IMPERFECT = PERFECT and ZERO = INFINITY ( " tongue in cheek " ) to get the expected rise out of RD S. He is so predictable with his responses !

I also use the experience to measure the thickness of my skin or hide. He still got to me; must continue working on that !

Simon

Don't forget to give me your poll responses; I'll expect some changes after admitting to this. Also the way its listed give the expressions different meanings, especially if I am talking about a process rather than an object.

[QUOTE=9021951;275741]Don't forget to give me your poll responses; I'll expect some changes after admitting to this. Also the way its listed give the expressions different meanings, especially if I am talking about a process rather than an object.[/QUOTE]

you do realize it says anyone can view it so you can as well right ?