In the summer of 2010, Shinichi Mochizuki posted four papers on his website claiming that he'd solved the abc conjecture, a 27 year old Number Theory problem that no other mathematician had even come close to solving. Many academics have dedicated hours trying to either accept or debunk his findings.
Years on, however, the papers still remain in "mathematical limbo". The abstract nature of Mochizuki’s findings have left academics "bewildered". Mochizuki has estimated “that it would take an expert in arithmetic geometry some 500 hours to understand his work, and a maths graduate student about ten years”.
Adding to the enigma, Mochizuki has decided not to speak widely about his work, choosing only to present his work in Japan. However, he has agreed to answer questions via Skype at a long awaited workshop in Oxford hosted by the Clay Mathematics Institute later this year. The organisers "hope that the discussion will motivate more mathematicians to invest the time to familiarize themselves with his ideas—and potentially move the needle in Mochizuki's favour".
Should his proof be correct, it would be one of the most important achievements in Mathematics this century.
Professor Ivan Fesenko has studied Mochizuki’s findings and became the first person from outside Japan to speak with him. Fesenko’s work on understanding Mochizuki’s proof has appeared in Nature and Scientific American this month.
Several animations illustrating the theory were created by applied mathematician Dr Etienne Farcot based on the specifications of Shinichi Mochizuki and suggestions of Ivan Fesenko.
Posted on Thursday 22nd October 2015