Re:The Man Who Solved the Mysterious Cicada 3301 Puzzle
by TheLoneWolfling on Sunday November 02, 2014 @10:10PM
(#8549184)
Nope. This is not correct either.
> >>> 434437* * 15 + 588129* * 15 - 588544 * *15
> -604550152144288043930860169354171954730939671404246170822386878582482
(Edit: how do I display two asterisks in a row? It's supposed to be number(asterisk)(asterisk)number.)
This is using Python, which does arbitrary-precision integer arithmetic.
Google's calculator probably uses floating-point numbers internally, and hence starts losing precision.
Re:The Man Who Solved the Mysterious Cicada 3301 Puzzle
by sillysaurus3 on Sunday November 02, 2014 @10:18PM
(#8549204)
It seems that advancements in technology have made mathematical trolling much more difficult. :)
In case anyone is curious, the above "solutions" are called near-misses, since they're almost correct. A clever person came up with an algorithm to generate interesting near-misses for low exponents. See the table on page 15: http://arxiv.org/pdf/math/0005139v1.pdf
Related: http://math.stackexchange.com/questions/526330/fermats-last-...
Have fun!
Re:The Man Who Solved the Mysterious Cicada 3301 Puzzle
by wbhart on Sunday November 02, 2014 @10:54PM
(#8549266)
What you really need is a "solution" that is wrong in just one digit somewhere in the middle that everyone would easily miss when comparing.
Re:The Man Who Solved the Mysterious Cicada 3301 Puzzle
by TheLoneWolfling on Sunday November 02, 2014 @10:24PM
(#8549214)
Python having easy arbitrary-precision integer arithmetic is one of the things I most like about it.
Re:The Man Who Solved the Mysterious Cicada 3301 Puzzle
by yen223 on Sunday November 02, 2014 @10:57PM
(#8549272)
Arbitrary-precision integers is definitely one of Python's underrated feature.
Re:The Man Who Solved the Mysterious Cicada 3301 Puzzle
by dil8 on Sunday November 02, 2014 @10:13PM
(#8549194)
Well according the the theorem there is no integer solutions when the exponent is greater than 2.
Re:The Man Who Solved the Mysterious Cicada 3301 Puzzle
by TheLoneWolfling on Sunday November 02, 2014 @10:16PM
(#8549201)
His counterexample is incorrect.
Google verifies the answer is 434437^15 + 588129^15 = 588544^15: https://www.google.com/search?q=434437%5E15+%2B+588129%5E15+...