Yeah but now, what? What was learned from this? Why did we look for a solution in the first place? How is it important that a number can be a sum of three cubes?
There are others in this thread who are curious too, e.g.:
> Could someone elaborate on why this is interesting? The linked page doesn't have much context.
Just compare your question's tone with that, for example, and maybe that will explain why you're being downvoted [I did not, but I get why others are -- you deleted your other comment "Thanks for the downvotes..."]
Just googling "42 sum of 3 cubes" would have yielded better answers with less fuss. In general, I always google before asking in a forum. It's like not littering.
> Why did we look for a solution in the first place?
They did. I do not believe that you were involved.
> How is it important that a number can be a sum of three cubes?
People like things for their own sake. How is it important to have sex or drink a beer? Same thing. Also math has this uncanny tendency to turn out to be useful where you least expect it. Consider the primes. For a long time people might have asked the same question you are asking here, and yet now they are central in encryption and thus the digital finance market. Could not find a more capitalistic and materialistic use if you tried.
Why are you so bitter? I asked this genuinely. I doubt PhD+ people do that type of research "just for fun", or do that like someone like me drinks a beer. Someone answered elaborately, and I'm glad they did. Thanks anyway.
If you can break up a reasonably-sized table (perhaps 120 or so) of numbers into their respective sums of cubes, breaking many types of encryption is arbitrary.
yati|6 years ago
> Could someone elaborate on why this is interesting? The linked page doesn't have much context.
Just compare your question's tone with that, for example, and maybe that will explain why you're being downvoted [I did not, but I get why others are -- you deleted your other comment "Thanks for the downvotes..."]
theothermkn|6 years ago
https://www.google.com/search?client=ubuntu&channel=fs&q=42+...
nkrisc|6 years ago
But mathematics is the foundation for so many fields that it's worth coming to explore it.
qntty|6 years ago
https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2019/07/22/the-aesthetic...
normalhuman|6 years ago
"now, what?", what?
> What was learned from this?
That 42 is the sum of three cubes.
> Why did we look for a solution in the first place?
They did. I do not believe that you were involved.
> How is it important that a number can be a sum of three cubes?
People like things for their own sake. How is it important to have sex or drink a beer? Same thing. Also math has this uncanny tendency to turn out to be useful where you least expect it. Consider the primes. For a long time people might have asked the same question you are asking here, and yet now they are central in encryption and thus the digital finance market. Could not find a more capitalistic and materialistic use if you tried.
mombul|6 years ago
unknown|6 years ago
[deleted]
unknown|6 years ago
[deleted]
scrungus|6 years ago
sp332|6 years ago