UC professor publishes proof of elusive math problem

New Scientist : Around 1932 Hungarian mathematician Paul Erdös showed that if one adds the values of a random infinite sequence of +1s and −1s, rather than equaling 0, the total will be at least 1. Erdös went on to wonder whether the discrepancy could ever be greater than 1. Although mathematicians believed the answer to be yes, no one had been able to prove it until recently. Last year Alexei Lisitsa and Boris Konev of the University of Liverpool in the UK used a computer program to prove that the discrepancy can equal 2. However, the 13-GB file that resulted was too large to be checked by a human. Now, by using traditional mathematics and crowdsourced work, Terence Tao of UCLA has given mathematical proof that the discrepancy is infinite . The achievement is significant because it shows that while computers are a useful tool, human brain power is still required to solve some problems.