<HTML><FONT FACE=arial,helvetica><FONT SIZE=2>In a message dated 11/18/02 7:39:09 PM Pacific Standard Time, seamus2001@attbi.com writes:
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<BR>> About eight years ago. Took a huge computer algorith attacking it by brute
<BR>force. No wonder Fermat couldn't fit the proof in the margin. jks
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<BR>Now, now; metaphors of violence cannot come close to a description of the
<BR>creative beauty of mathematicians, whether neural or silicon, in action....
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<BR>Ian
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<BR>You mean "attacking" or "brute force?"
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<BR>I do not think repeatedly trying the same thing over and over with subtle variations until you get to the solution is automatically "creative beauty," but just because that might be big and seemingly dumb, not particularly elegant, does not mean that it is necessarily violent.
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<BR>dc</FONT></HTML>