A Mathematician Just Solved a Deceptively Simple Puzzle That Has Boggled Minds for 64 Years

[Judi Lynn]

By Brandon Specktor, Senior Writer | April 2, 2019 03:29pm ET

A mathematician in England has cracked a math puzzle that's stumped computers and humans alike for 64 years: How can the number 33 be expressed as the sum of three cubed numbers?

While it might seem simple on its face, this question is part of an enduring number-theory conundrum that goes back to at least 1955 and may have been mulled over by Greek thinkers as early as the third century. The underlying equation to solve looks like this:

x^3 + y^3 + z^3 = k

This is an example of a Diophantine equation, named for the ancient mathematician Diophantus of Alexandria, who proposed a string of similar equations with multiple unknown variables about 1,800 years ago. If you want to play along, pick any whole number between 1 and infinity — that's your k value. Now, the challenge is to find the values for x, y and z that, when cubed and summed, equal k. The mystery numbers can be either positive or negative, and as big or as small as you want. [5 Seriously Mind-Boggling Math Facts]

For example, if you chose the number 8 as your k value, one solution to the equation is: 2^3 + 1^3 + (-1)^3 = 8.

More:
https://www.livescience.com/65135-mathematician-solves-for-33.html?utm_source=notification

[honest.abe]

1. And the solution is..

(8,866,128,975,287,528)^3 + (–8,778,405,442,862,239)^3 + (–2,736,111,468,807,040)^3 = 33.

No wonder it took so long!

[samnsara]

2. what?

[keithbvadu2]

3. I don't know how we could have missed it.

[pnwmom]

5. Yeah, it was so simple all along. n/t

[California_Republic]

6. We did it in grade school. Sorry we didn't know they were looking for that.

😀

[qazplm135]

4. Dangit off by one

I knew I was missing something!

[Javaman]

7. forgot to carry the one...