Some interesting bits from the article:
Anon is credited as the first author in the paper
Computers are able to calculate superpermutations for n = 4 and n = 5 but not for anything beyond that.
Since the series in question has 14 episodes, it would take 93,884,313,611 episodes to see all possible combinations. Or roughly 4 million years of non-stop viewing.
stevedice@sh.itjust.works 3 weeks ago
I hate how every article written about it seemed hell bent into trying to make it look like it was some random weeb who channeled his love for anime to come up with a proof when almost everyone in that thread was a mathematician and they were all aware of the Traveling Salesman problem and knew exactly what they were trying to prove. The board is literally called Science & Math.
jabathekek@sopuli.xyz 3 weeks ago
*weeb mathematicians who knew exactly what they were trying to prove and channelled their love for Haruhi to come up with a proof
stevedice@sh.itjust.works 3 weeks ago
Well, yeah, it’s 4chan, that’s a given. What I’m trying to say is that it wasn’t some Good Will Hunting situation. It was competent people doing what they do for a living.
Irelephant@lemm.ee 3 weeks ago
“The hacker named 4chan”
Contramuffin@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
I don’t personally think Anon knew exactly what he was trying to prove (otherwise he would have published the proof already), but it is definitely true that the problem was posted on a forum that specifically catered to people with the kinds of skillsets that would be capable of solving these problems. Most likely Anon probably just saw this as a simple math challenge without any deeper meaning
stevedice@sh.itjust.works 3 weeks ago
Everyone else in the thread was talking about the traveling salesman. I won’t completely rule out that he, personally, didn’t know because mathematicians are weird af, but it would be very strange.