Millennium Problems
The Millennium Problems are seven problems for the solution of which the Clay Mathematics Institute (CMI) is offering a prize of $7 million. Someone who can solve just one of these problems receives $1 million. For each problem, the CMI had a professional mathematician write up an official statement of the problem which will be the main standard by which a given solution will be measured against. The prize offer was announced in May 2004.
The seven problems are:
- 1.
The Birch and Swinnerton-Dyer conjecture. It concerns elliptic curves
over rational numbers
and the L-series attached to those curves. The official statement of the problem was given by Andrew Wiles.
- 2.
The Hodge conjecture. It concerns Hodge cycles and their linear combinations. The official statement of the problem was given by Pierre Deligne.
- 3.
“Existence and smoothness of the The Navier-Stokes equation.” The Navier-Stokes equation calculates momemtum in fluids (specifically, liquids and gases). The official statement of the problem was given by Charles Fefferman.
- 4.
“P versus NP.” It concerns the difference
between verification and computation in polynomial time
. The official statement of the problem was given by Stephen Cook.
- 5.
The Poincaré conjecture. It is believed that every simply-connected compact 3-manifold is homeomorphic to . The official statement of the problem was given by John Milnor.
- 6.
Quantum Yang-Mills theory. Just as Hilbert’s problems a hundred years before included a problem relating to the mathematics of physics, so does this 2000 collection
. The official statement of the problem was given by Arthur Jaffe and Edward Witten.
- 7.
The Riemann hypothesis
. It concerns the distribution of primes. This one was 8 of 23 in Hilbert’s problems. The official statement of the problem was given by Enrico Bombieri.
References
- 1 Keith Devlin, The Millennium Problems: The Seven Greatest Unsolved Mathematical Puzzles of Our Time New York: Perseus Books Group (2002)
Appendix A External link
http://www.claymath.org/millennium/CMI page on Millennium Problems