Is the New P=NP Proof Valid?

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The discussion centers on skepticism regarding a paper claiming to prove P=NP, with participants questioning its validity and the credibility of arXiv as a publication platform. Key criticisms include the flawed reasoning in Lemma 4.4 and the lack of consideration for non-halting computations. Participants emphasize that arXiv does not provide the same quality assurance as peer-reviewed journals, allowing many unverified claims to be published. The consensus suggests that if the proof were valid, it would likely be submitted to a reputable journal rather than being shared on arXiv. Overall, the conversation highlights the need for caution when evaluating claims made in non-peer-reviewed settings.
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Lemma 4.4 is bogus. You can't separate any real number into two parts, an integer before the decimal point and an integer after the decimal point.

Also, the possibility that a given computation on an arbitrary input does not halt is not even considered.
 
Arg, what am I going to tell those traveling salesmen now? Got their hopes up for a sec.
 
Just a comment: if this were a valid proof, why wouldn't it be in a real journal?
 
is arvix not credible?

I only go on there because its free. Perhaps I should steer clear?

Jim
 
statdad said:
Just a comment: if this were a valid proof, why wouldn't it be in a real journal?

perelman's proofs are only up on arxiv
 
lufbrajames said:
is arvix not credible?

I only go on there because its free. Perhaps I should steer clear?

Jim

arxiv is a great resource, but the fact that a paper made it onto arxiv does not mean that the paper is good or even correct. Plenty of crackpots manage to get their papers on arxiv.

Arxiv does not try to fill the same role as a respectable peer-reviewed journal and you shouldn't consider it as such. In such a journal you have some assurance that the articles are correct, make sense, and are useful, but on arxiv no such guarantee is made.

Most of the great papers on arxiv is in my opinion either long expository work or pre-prints that'll later be accepted to a standard journal (of course I have only seen a very small subset of the arxiv submission, and in a very narrow area so this may not be true in general).

There are plenty of "proofs" of Goldbach, Riemann, P vs. NP, etc. on arxiv and they all seem to be incorrect.
 
The other commenters have summed it up - the "quality control" at Arvix is pretty poor (if I hadn't already had my morning coffee I would say "does not exist" instead of pretty poor). But another take: If this paper were correct, publication in a journal would be a major coup for the editors. I may be too suspicious, and it may be in review, but if the author truly believed it was correct, and knew that the chance it would appear in a journal were high, why would he leak it out at Arvix?
 
paper said:
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The author would like to thank all the people who give him worm help and encouragement.

I have a problem to solve, I'd sure like some worm help too :biggrin:
 

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