Re: [HM] Proofs and the computer
Tony Mann (A.Mann@greenwich.ac.uk)
Wed, 9 Jun 1999 16:42:24 GMT
> > That's true. More recently, Paul Seymour produced another proof,
> >which is still simpler, and has the further advantage that the computer
> >not only performed the reducibility checks of the cases, but also handled
> >the discharge method that produces them. I think this is the most reliable
> >proof to date.
> >
> > John Conway
>
> I wonder ... are some of us more apt to trust a proof gone over by numerous
> humans, say as in the case of the Fermat conjecture, than to trust a proof
> produced by a machine using different programs composed by different
> programmers? Or not?
>
> Gordon Fisher gfisher@shentel.net
>
Definitely. Kempe's proof, which was accepted for many years by all
the mathematicians of the day, is clearly far more credible than
anything software can do, judging by the number of times Windows has
crashed on me today.
Tony
>
Tony Mann
School of Computing and Mathematical Sciences,
The University of Greenwich, Woolwich Campus,
London SE18 6PF, UK
Tel: +(44) (0)20 8331 8709
Fax: +(44) (0)20 8331 8665
Email: A.Mann@uk.ac.gre
Web site http://www.gre.ac.uk/~A.Mann