What Did He Say?

Earlier this month, a group of mathematicians met at the University of Oxford in England to discuss something one of their number, Shinichi Mochizuki, calls “inter-universal Teichmüller,” or IUT, theory. Dr. Mochizuki first offered his proof to the maths community in 2012, when he posted his five hundred page proof online.

As you might expect when it comes to a 500-page math problem, the number of people who really understand it doesn't require exponential notation. It may not even require you to remove your shoes to count them up. The conference may have had a goal of explaining Dr. Mochizuki's work, but in the end organizers found themselves settling for the idea that more people than ever before "kind of" get it. And they "kind of" get it in the same way I "kind of" get stochastic oscillators, and while I know that stochastic oscillators are equations that predict trends in stock prices based on their high and low prices over a given length of time, I could neither create nor solve one even if you told me the answer was Angie Harmon's cell phone number and favorite restaurant.

Anyway, frustration amongst the mathematical community over the proof is at a high level, as it seems Dr. Mochizuki feels no obligation to travel the world and teach his proof and some of the folks who say they do understand his work haven't had much success in passing along their knowledge.

And after a couple hours reading up on just the names of the things Dr. Mochizuki writes about, I am no closer to offering a witty yet clear description of what IUT theory is even about, let alone what the proof is supposed to prove. My only victory is that I arrived at this place without having to travel to Oxford and spend four days listening to math professors talk about it, which is probably cheaper for me and requires much less aspirin.