Some people love math, and some people hate it.

Within the group of people who love math, there are a very small number of people who dedicate their lives to thinking about some of the most advanced and complex mathematical theories out there.

While some people might be tempted to dismiss them as ‘math nerds,’ they are actually essential to how the modern world works. Just about everything today, for example, relies on cryptography for its security.

Cryptography is just a type of math.

One of the most important factors in cryptography involves prime numbers, so the more that is learned about them, the better the technology will be able to work.

This is why many people in the math world are extremely excited about a recently published paper.

This paper was written by James Maynard, a professor of Number Theory at the Mathematical Institute at the University of Oxford and Larry Guth, a professor of mathematics at MIT.

These two met at a meeting of the American Mathematical Society in 2020 and quickly realized that they could help each other. Maynard had an idea that using harmonic analysis he could solve, or at least make progress on, a 150+ year-old math problem known as the Riemann hypothesis.

Fortunately, Guth was an expert in harmonic analysis, so they began working together.

While the initial solution did not pan out, they were able to come up with new ways to think about the problem.

In the end, they were not able to solve the problem, which is really not that surprising. What they did do, however, is help to narrow down the already small range in which the Riemann hypothesis works, which is important.

With this advancement, it is now possible to quickly locate a prime number with a set number of digits. The math behind this is, of course, extraordinarily complex, but it is critical for modern technology and mathematical research in general.

The last time real advancement in the Riemann hypothesis was made was over 80 years ago, so this is quite an accomplishment. It will also likely help to motivate future mathematicians to work on this iconic problem.

The complexity of advanced mathematics is incredible.

It’s all indecipherable to me!

If you thought that was interesting, you might like to read about a quantum computer simulation that has “reversed time” and physics may never be the same.