10/3/2015

AMagicalAnswertoan80YearOldPuzzle

AMagicalAnswertoan80YearOldPuzzle

OlenaShmahalo/QuantaMagazine
Aprecipiceliestwopacestoyourleftandapitofviperstwopacestoyourright.Canyoudeviseaseriesofsteps
thatwillavoidthehazards,evenifyouareforcedtotakeeverysecond,thirdorNthstepinyourseries?

ByEricaKlarreich
ThemathematicianTerenceTao,oftheUniversityofCalifornia,LosAngeles,haspresenteda
solutiontoan80yearoldnumbertheoryproblemposedbythelegendaryHungarian
mathematicianPaulErds.Erdswasfamousforthethousandsofpuzzleshecameupwith,
manyofwhichhaveledtosurprisinglydeepmathematicaldiscoveries.Thisparticular
problem,whichcametobeknownastheErdsdiscrepancyproblem,wasoneofhisfavorites,
saidBenGreen,amathematicianattheUniversityofOxford.Hementioneditmanytimes
overtheyears,particularlytowardstheendofhislife.
Asimplifiedversionoftheproblemgoeslikethis:Imaginethatyouareimprisonedinatunnel
thatopensoutontoaprecipicetwopacestoyourleft,andapitofviperstwopacestoyour
right.Totormentyou,yourevilcaptorforcesyoutotakeaseriesofstepstotheleftandright.
Youneedtodeviseaseriesthatwillallowyoutoavoidthehazardsifyoutakeasteptothe
right,forexample,youllwantyoursecondsteptobetotheleft,toavoidfallingoffthecliff.
Youmighttryalternatingrightandleftsteps,butheresthecatch:Youhavetolistyour
plannedstepsaheadoftime,andyourcaptormighthaveyoutakeeverysecondsteponyour
list(startingatthesecondstep),oreverythirdstep(startingatthethird),orsomeotherskip

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countingsequence.Istherealistofstepsthatwillkeepyoualive,nomatterwhatsequence
yourcaptorchooses?

KyleAlexander
TerenceTaooftheUniversityof
California,LosAngeles,has
proposedasolutiontothelong
standingErdsdiscrepancy
problem.

Inthisbrainteaser,devisedbythemathematicspopularizerJamesGrime,youcanplanalistof
11stepsthatprotectsyoufromdeath.Butifyoutrytoadda12thstep,youaredoomed:Your
captorwillinevitablybeabletofindsomeskipcountingsequencethatwillplungeyouover
theclifforintotheviperpit.
Around1932,Erdsasked,inessence,whatiftheprecipiceandpitofvipersarethreepaces
awayinsteadoftwo?WhatiftheyareNpacesaway?Canyouescapedeathforaninfinite
numberofsteps?Theanswer,Erdsconjectured,wasnonomatterhowfarawaythe
precipiceandviperpitare,youcanteludethemforever.
Butformorethan80years,mathematiciansmadenoprogressonprovingErdsdiscrepancy
conjecture(sonamedbecausethedistancefromthecenterofthetunnelisknownasthe
discrepancy).Everyoneinthesubjecthaswhettedtheirteethonthisandfailed,saidAndrew
Granville,anumbertheoristattheUniversityofMontrealandUniversityCollegeLondon.
Itsoneofthoseproblemsthatnobodyhasreallywrittenasensiblepaperabout,becauseno
onehadacleveridea.

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Eventheseeminglysimplescenarioinwhichthepitandtheprecipicearejustthreepaces
awayinvolvesanenormousnumberofpossiblechoices.Thisversionoftheproblemwas
finallysolvedlastyearbyBorisKonevandAlexeiLisitsaoftheUniversityofLiverpoolin
England,whoshowed,viaacomputercalculationwhoseoutputiscomparableinsizewithall
ofWikipedia,thatitispossibletowritedown1,160safesteps,butnomore.Theirproof,
however,didnotofferafootholdonthemoregeneralproblem.
Now,inapreprintpostedonlineonSeptember17,Tao,awinneroftheFieldsMedal,
mathematicshighesthonor,hasshownthatnomatterhowfarawaytheviperpitand
precipiceare,thereisalwaysamaximumnumberofstepsyoucansafelylist.
Tosolvetheproblem,Taomeasuredtheentropyofmathematicalobjectscalled
multiplicativefunctionsorsequences,whichlieattheheartofnotjusttheErdsdiscrepancy
problem,butalsosomeofthedeepestproblemsinnumbertheory,suchasunderstandingthe
distributionofprimenumbers.Thisnovelsynthesisofnumbertheoryandentropya
conceptthatoriginatedincodingtheorywillcertainlyopenupnewavenuesofresearch,
Greenpredicted.
Untilnow,theErdsdiscrepancyproblemhasbeenanexampleofthemostridiculousthings
wehavefeltwedidntunderstandaboutmultiplicativefunctions,Granvillesaid.Itshould
beanimmediateobservation,butsomehowithadtotakevastamountsofdeepideasand
clevernesstogetthere.Taossolution,hesaid,isawonderfulbreakthrough.
HandlesontheWreckingBall
Inlate2009,TimothyGowers,amathematicianattheUniversityofCambridgewhojump
startedthemassiveonlinemathematicalcollaborationsknownasPolymathprojects,was
castingaboutforagoodtopicforthenextsuchproject.Inaseriesofblogposts,hedescribed
severalpossibleprojects,includingtheErdsdiscrepancyproblem,andaskedreadersto
weighin.Thepostonthediscrepancyproblemquicklyattractednearly150comments,andon
January6,2010,Gowerswrotewhathecalledanemergencypostsayingthatthisproblem
wasclearlythepeopleschoice.
LikeErdshimself,theprojectcasttheproblemasaquestionaboutsequencesof+1sand1s,
notrightsandlefts.Overthecourseoftheproject,Taofiguredoutthatitisessentially
sufficienttosolvethediscrepancyproblemformultiplicativesequences:onesinwhichthe(n
m)thentryisequaltothenthentrytimesthemthentry(so,forexample,thesixthentry
equalsthesecondentrytimesthethirdentry).
Itmakessensethatmultiplicativesequencesshouldofferhighprospectsforsurvival.Ina
multiplicativesequence,eachskipcountingsequenceof+1sand1siseitheridenticaltoor
themirrorimageoftheoriginalsequenceasawhole.Forinstance,thesequencethatconsists
ofeverythirdentryissimplytheoriginalsequencetimesthethirdentryinthesequence,
whichiseither+1or1.So,ifyouvefoundasurvivablelistofstepsforthemainsequence,it
willautomaticallygiveyouasurvivablelistofstepsforeveryskipcountingsequenceyour
captormightchoose.

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CourtesyofTerenceTao
PaulErds,left,andTerenceTaodiscussing
mathematicsin1985.

Multiplicativesequencesarerelatedtodeepstructuresinnumbertheory.Oneexampleisthe
famousLiouvillefunction,which,whenwrittenasasequence,hasa+1or1inthenthspot
dependingonwhethernhasanevenoroddnumberofprimefactors,andwhichgives
mathematiciansawaytostudythenumberofprimesbelowagivennumber.Multiplicative
sequenceshavebeenintensivelystudied,butmanybasicquestionsaboutthemhave
stubbornlyresistedattemptstoanswerthem.Onesuchquestion,thePolymathproject
eventuallyconcluded,wastheErdsdiscrepancyproblem.By2012,[thePolymathproject]
peteredout,Taosaid.
ButtheproblemsomehowseemedmoreapproachableafterthePolymathproject,hesaid.
Before,theproblemhadbeenlikeagiantwreckingballthatyouhadtopickup,butitwas
completelysmooth,hesaid,usingananalogyheattributestoGowers.AfterPolymath,the
problemhadhandles,hesaid.Soyoucouldatleasttrytopickitupnow.Ifyoufounda
crane,youcouldhookitup.
HoistingtheWreckingBall
InJanuary,apairofmathematiciansKaisaMatomkioftheUniversityofTurkuinFinland
andMaksymRadziwiofRutgersUniversitytookthefirststeptowardbuildingthatcrane,
althoughitwasntimmediatelyclearthattheyhaddoneso.Theycameupwithawayto
understandthecorrelationsbetweennearneighborsinamultiplicativesequence,an
achievementthathadlongbeenconsideredbeyondreach.
TaostartedworkingwithMatomkiandRadziwionaraftofpotentialapplicationsoftheir
methodtoproblemsinnumbertheory.OnSeptember6,Taowroteablogpostaboutsomeof
thisworkpertainingtotheLiouvillefunction,andhementionedthattheproblemreminded
himofaSudokupuzzle.Afewdayslater,aPolymathparticipantnamedUweStroinski

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commentedthattheErdsdiscrepancyproblemalsohadaSudokulikeflavor.Could
MatomkiandRadziwisapproach,heasked,beappliedtothatproblemaswell?
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madethefirstmajoradvancein76yearsinunderstandinghowfarapartprimescanbe.
TheConnoisseurofNumberSequences
Formorethan50years,themathematicianNeilSloanehascuratedtheauthoritativecollectionof
interestingandimportantintegersequences.

Irepliedsaying,No,Idontthinkso,Taosaid.Hewasconvincedasinfactprovedto
bethecasethateverysequenceeventuallyleadstodeathintheErdspuzzle.Matomki
andRadziwisapproachseemedasifitmightbeusefulforconstructingsequencesthatallow
youtosurviveforawhile,butnotforthereverseproblemofshowingthatthesequencemust
eventuallyfail.AsTaogavethequestionmorethought,however,herealizedthathisknee
jerkresponsewaswronghecouldinfactprovetheErdsconjecture,ifhecouldonly
controlacertaincomplicatedsum.
Itriedseriouslytotacklethisheadon,nowthatIknewthatitwouldsolvethediscrepancy
problem,Taosaid.Andoneafternoon,ashewaitedforhissontogetoutofapianolesson,
theanswercametohim:Hecoulduseanargumentlikeamagicianschoice,wherethe
magicianofferssomeoneintheaudiencetwooptions,anditseemsasiftheaudiencehas
control,butthemagicianhasatrickplannedforwhicheveroptionyoupick.
Taostrickinvolvesbreakingupacandidatesequenceintochunksandthenexaminingthe
sequence,chunkbychunk,toseewhetheryoucansurviveyourcaptor.Whenyouencountera
newchunk,oneoftwothingsmusthappen,Taoshowed:Eitherthecaptorcankillyou,orthe
sequencesentropyameasureofhowrandomasequenceiswilldropbyadefinite
increment.Entropycanneverdropbelowzero,soifyoucontinueonfromchunktochunk,
youmusteventuallyhitachunkforwhichtheonlypossibilityisthatyourcaptorcankillyou.
Taosolvedtheprobleminthespaceofamonth,whichisanamazingtestamenttohis
strength,Granvillesaid.Oncehegetshisteethintosomething,hecantletgo.
Tao,whowas10whenhefirstmetErdsatamathematicsevent,isexcitedaboutthepower
ofthemagicianstrickapproach,hesaid.Ihopeitcanbeusedtoprovemanyother
things.

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