DARPA Challenge Problems

DARPA has put out a list of 23 challenge problems in pure and applied mathematics. Some of them are specific, such as number 19:

SETTLE THE RIEMANN HYPOTHESIS

The Holy Grail of number theory.

Some are vague, such as number 3:

CAPTURE AND HARNESS STOCHASTICITY IN NATURE

Address Mumford’s call for new mathematics for the 21st century.

Via Peter Woit.

8 Responses to “DARPA Challenge Problems”

  1. Isabel says:

    Do they have to distribute it as a PDF file with one sentence on each page?

    It’s an interesting list, though.

  2. My favorite is the motivation for number 14:

    AN INFORMATION THEORY FOR VIRUS EVOLUTION

    Why not?

  3. Jacob Freeze says:

    Since the Goldbach Conjecture is prominently left out of the DARPA list, this is an excellent time to ask a simple question about it and restore a little honor to that grand old problem:

    Are all the primes necessary to satisfy the conjecture? More concretely, is there some proper subset of the primes such that every even number so far tested is the sum of two of them?

  4. Walt says:

    The only explanation I can think of for the weird format was that it was a Powerpoint presentation converted to PDF.

  5. Or it could be for printing out as a booklet.

  6. John Baez says:

    For more discussion of these problem choices, try the n-Category Cafe.

    You can apply for a grant to solve one of these problems.

  7. Jacob Freeze says:

    Are the giant letters and vellum background of the DARPA questions really as pompous and pretentiousas they appear to be? What do those words mean, anyway?

    Let’s ask “Humble Ben” Kingsley!

  8. Jacob Freeze says:

    “Humble Ben” is visible at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7mKyy8y26F8

    This board would be a lot more lively if it allowed embedded videos!

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