A Second Proof of FLT?

[jinydu]

Has anyone heard of this?

http://plus.maths.org/latestnews/jan...rre/index.html

Here's the actual paper itself:

http://arxiv.org/PS_cache/math/pdf/0504/0504080.pdf

Apparently, the author is a mathematics associate professor at the University of Utah.

Obviously, I don't have what it takes to understand the paper itself, but I did a quick search and "Fermat's Last Theorem" is not mentioned in the body of the paper, although there are several works containing that phrase that appear in the References section.

Comments?

[jinydu]

Please; do the more knowledgeable users think this could be a legitimate result?

Here's another source: http://www.hindu.com/2005/04/25/stor...2506530100.htm

Interestingly, it doesn't claim that Khare's result implies Fermat's Last Theorem.

[Zeta-Flux]

jinydu,

It *could* be a valid result, but the point of refereed journals is to have other mathematicians take a look at a paper to make sure it is right. On these sorts of things the only things you can do are either (1) wait for the experts in the field, or (2) become an expert and read the paper.

For example, every few years someone claims to have solved the Poincare conjecture, and then their proof is ultimately shown to have holes. Recently, Perelman seems to have solved it, and experts feel that there will likely be no major holes, but as far as I know they haven't finished reviewing the paper (it is that complicated!). So, we have to keep waiting. http://mathworld.wolfram.com/PoincareConjecture.html

Best,
Pace

[jinydu]

That does remind me. I haven't heard any news on Perelman and the Poincare Conjecture in a long long time. No news?

[mfgoode]

Originally Posted by jinydu

Has anyone heard of this?

http://plus.maths.org/latestnews/jan...rre/index.html

Here's the actual paper itself:

http://arxiv.org/PS_cache/math/pdf/0504/0504080.pdf

Apparently, the author is a mathematics associate professor at the University of Utah.

Obviously, I don't have what it takes to understand the paper itself, but I did a quick search and "Fermat's Last Theorem" is not mentioned in the body of the paper, although there are several works containing that phrase that appear in the References section.

Comments?

Hi jinydu, Thanks for the startling news which I read a few days ago but did not reply.

Well Prof. Chandrasekhar Khare is well on the road to proving FLT but is not yet there. We'll have to wait till the results are agreed upon by other math'cians. I'll phone TIFR tomorrow and get their version straight from the horse's mouth as it were.

The TIFR (Tata institute of fundamental research) is the breeding ground of many of the elite math'cians in Western India and is soon catching up with the Advanced Institutes of science at Princeton and Cambridge (U.K.) and the ones in Europe.

TIFR is spreading its tentacles all over the world with these outstanding scholars who are migrating in search of greener pastures to other countries.
Recently there is an attempt to reverse the brain drain and lure these scientists back to base by offering salaries on par with the other countries.
You know that our president Dr. Abdul Kalam is an outstanding scientist with many firsts to his credit in space exploration etc..
Will keep you posted.
Mally

[mfgoode]

I phoned TIFR but they were very tight lipped. Without a definite confirmation they dont want to comment.
However Dr. Prasad dealing in Number Theory said it was not an attempt to better the Flt proof by Andrew Miles as this was settled once and for all by him (AM). Dr. Khare's 'proof' was an off shoot of the Serre conjecture which leads one in the same direction to FLT.
Mally