News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:New math book rescues landmark topology proof by nerdponx on Thursday September 09, 2021 @02:28PM (#28472962)
Is it possible to even check such a proof programmatically? Do we have that kind of technology? Do you also have to review the proof checking code to make sure you didn't make any errors in transcription from the original paper?
Re:New math book rescues landmark topology proof by lostmsu on Thursday September 09, 2021 @02:57PM (#28473266)
> Do you also have to review the proof checking code to make sure you didn't make any errors in transcription from the original paper?

The point of the checked proof is that your final theorem is almost definitely correct (you did not make mistakes in your deductions, unless the proof checker has a serious bug) if you can convince computer it derives from your axioms.

You can convince humans without your proof being correct thought, because they might not spot an error.

Re:New math book rescues landmark topology proof by broken_symlink on Thursday September 09, 2021 @04:31PM (#28474305)
There is a language called lean which is popular among mathematicians. Here is an article: https://www.quantamagazine.org/building-the-mathematical-lib...

A more recent article as well: https://www.quantamagazine.org/lean-computer-program-confirm...

Re:New math book rescues landmark topology proof by nerdponx on Thursday September 09, 2021 @06:29PM (#28475419)
My question was specifically referring to these huge 500 proofs that only a handful of people have even attempted to understand. What is the upper limit of what our current state-of-the-art proof assistants can handle?
Re:New math book rescues landmark topology proof by lostmsu on Thursday September 09, 2021 @07:38PM (#28476020)
The problem is not the limit of what proof checkers can handle - that probably goes beyond all known math. The problem is that long standing theories that 500 page proof is based on are not yet transcribed into formal language, so you'd need to do them first.