Questions tagged [open-problem]

Questions on problems that have yet to be completely solved by current mathematical methods.

There are many unsolved problems in mathematics. Some prominent outstanding unsolved problems (as well as some which are not necessarily so well known) include

  1. The Goldbach conjecture.

  2. The Riemann hypothesis.

  3. The conjecture that there exists a Hadamard matrix for every positive multiple of 4.

  4. The twin prime conjecture (i.e., the conjecture that there are an infinite number of twin primes).

  5. Determination of whether NP-problems are actually P-problems.

  6. The Collatz problem.

  7. Proof that the $196$-algorithm does not terminate when applied to the number $196$.

  8. Proof that $10$ is a solitary number.

  9. Finding a formula for the probability that two elements chosen at random generate the symmetric group $S_n$.

  10. Solving the happy end problem for arbitrary $n$.

  11. Finding an Euler brick whose space diagonal is also an integer.

  12. Proving which numbers can be represented as a sum of three or four (positive or negative) cubic numbers.

  13. Lehmer's Mahler measure problem and Lehmer's totient problem on the existence of composite numbers $n$ such that $\phi(n)|(n-1)$, where $\phi(n)$ is the totient function.

  14. Determining if the Euler-Mascheroni constant is irrational.

  15. Deriving an analytic form for the square site percolation threshold.

  16. Determining if any odd perfect numbers exist.

382 questions
133
votes
19 answers

Past open problems with sudden and easy-to-understand solutions

What are some examples of mathematical facts that had once been open problems for a significant amount of time and thought hard or unsolvable by contemporary methods, but were then unexpectedly solved thanks to some out-of-the-box flash of genius,…
Damian Reding
  • 8,894
  • 2
  • 24
  • 40
113
votes
5 answers

What is the smallest number of $45^\circ-60^\circ-75^\circ$ triangles that a square can be divided into?

What is the smallest number of $45^\circ-60^\circ-75^\circ$ triangles that a square can be divided into? The image below is a flawed example, from http://www.mathpuzzle.com/flawed456075.gif Laczkovich gave a solution with many hundreds of…
110
votes
24 answers

Open mathematical questions for which we really, really have no idea what the answer is

There is no shortage of open problems in mathematics. While a formal proof for any of them remains elusive, with the "yes/no" questions among them mathematicians are typically not working in both directions but rather have a pretty clear idea of…
user139000
70
votes
7 answers

What is the oldest open problem in geometry?

Geometry is one of the oldest branches of mathematics, and many famous problems have been proposed and solved in its long history. What I would like to know is: What is the oldest open problem in geometry? Also (soft questions): Why is it so hard?…
69
votes
27 answers

What are some conjectures of your own?

Background: Although this site is most-often used for specific one-off questions, many of the highest scored questions (also on MathOverflow), which gather a lot of attention to the site are about informal lists. So, in the theme of, but in contrast…
Graviton
  • 4,678
63
votes
4 answers

Are there open problems in Linear Algebra?

I'm reading some stuff about algebraic K-theory, which can be regarded as a "generalization" of linear algebra, because we want to use the same tools like in linear algebra in module theory. There are a lot of open problems and conjectures in…
53
votes
18 answers

What are some things we can prove they must exist, but have no idea what they are?

What are some things we can prove they must exist, but have no idea what they are? Examples I can think of: Values of the Busy beaver function: It is a well-defined function, but not computable. It had been long known that there must be…
Loreno Heer
  • 4,570
50
votes
4 answers

Primes of the form $n^2+1$ - hard?

I met a student that is trying to prove for fun that there are infinitely many primes of the form $n^2+1$. I tried to tell him it's a hard problem, but I lack references. Is there a paper/book covering the problem? Is this problem really hard or I…
42
votes
1 answer

What are some of the major open problems in category theory?

What are some of the major open problems in category theory? Just curious - I'm interested in category theory.
user122283
39
votes
3 answers

Does the equation $x^4+y^4+1 = z^2$ have a non-trivial solution?

The background of this question is this: Fermat proved that the equation, $$x^4+y^4 = z^2\qquad$$ has no solution in the positive integers. If we consider the near-miss, $$x^4+y^4 = z^2 + 1$$ then this has plenty. (In fact, an infinity, as it can be…
33
votes
2 answers

Is it known that all primes can be expressed as a square number minus a prime number?

i.e. Conjecture is that for every prime p, there exists an integer n such that $=^2−$ where q is prime. e.g. $57593 = 240^2 - 7$ I assume it's either known / false / an entirely uninteresting result given the infinite number of squares and…
33
votes
2 answers

Status of the classification of non-finitely generated abelian groups.

From the Wikipedia on abelian groups: By contrast, classification of general infinitely-generated abelian groups is far from complete. How far are we from a classification exactly? It seems like divisible groups have been classified. Which cases…
32
votes
2 answers

Proving the Riemann Hypothesis and Impact on Cryptography

I was talking with a friend last night, and she raised the topic of the Clay Millennium Prize problems. I mentioned that my "favorite" problem is the Riemann Hypothesis; I explained what it posits and mentioned that, if proven, it would have great…
32
votes
7 answers

What does proving the Collatz Conjecture entail?

From the get go: i'm not trying to prove the Collatz Conjecture where hundreds of smarter people have failed. I'm just curious. I'm wondering where one would have to start in proving the Collatz Conjecture. That is, based on the nature of the…
29
votes
6 answers

Can someone explain the ABC conjecture to me?

I am an undergrad and I know that the conjecture may have been proven recently. But in reading about it, I am entirely confused as to what it means and why it is important. I was hoping some of you kind people could help me. I know there are several…
Joseph Skelton
  • 1,159
  • 10
  • 15
1
2 3
25 26