Math Forum Discussions

Mike Terry

Posts: 639
Registered: 12/6/04

Re: Schoolboy cracks age-old mathematics problem
Posted: May 29, 2012 4:03 PM

Plain Text

"Don Stockbauer" <donstockbauer@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:cf6870ac-84a9-4216-b149-22b3c06f5f3d@l5g2000vbo.googlegroups.com...
> On May 27, 2:23 am, use...@mantra.com and/or www.mantra.com/jai (Dr.
> Jai Maharaj) wrote:
> > Schoolboy cracks age-old maths problem
> >
> > The Local
> > May 23, 2012
> >
> > A 16-year-old schoolboy has solved a mathematical problem
> > which has stumped mathematicians for centuries, a
> > newspaper report said. The boy put the historical
> > breakthrough down to schoolboy naivety.
> >
> > Shouryya Ray, who moved to Germany from India with his
> > family at the age of 12, has baffled scientists and
> > mathematicians by solving two fundamental particle
> > dynamics problems posed by Sir Isaac Newton over 350
> > years ago, Die Welt newspaper reported on Monday.
> >
> > Rays solutions make it possible to now calculate not
> > only the flight path of a ball, but also predict how it
> > will hit and bounce off a wall. Previously it had only
> > been possible to estimate this using a computer, wrote
> > the paper.
> >
> > Ray first came across the old problem when his secondary
> > school, which specializes in science, set all their year-
> > 11 pupils a research project.
> >
> > On a visit to the Technical University in Dresden pupils
> > received raw data to evaluate a direct numerical
> > simulation which can be used to describe the trajectory
> > of a ball when it is thrown.
> >
> > When he realised the current method could not get an
> > exact result, Ray decided to have a go at solving it. He
> > puts the whole thing down to schoolboy naivety - he
> > just refused to accept there was no answer to the
> > problem.
> >
> > I asked myself: why cant it work? he told the paper.
> >
> > Ray has been fascinated by what he calls the intrinsic
> > beauty of maths since an early age, according to the
> > report. The boy was inspired by his engineer father who
> > began setting him arithmetic problems at the age of six.
> >
> > He recently won a youth science competition at the state
> > level in Saxony and won second place in the Maths and IT
> > section at the national final.
> >
> > Originally from Calcutta, Ray couldnt speak a word of
> > German when he came to Dresden four years ago but now
> > he is fluent. Since then, he was moved up two classes in
> > school and is currently sitting his Abitur exams two
> > years early.
> >
> > But Ray doesnt think hes a genius, and told the paper
> > he has weak points as a mathematician, as well as in
> > sports and social sciences.
> >
> > Ray, whose recent breakthrough may have earned him a
> > paragraph in the schoolbooks of the future, is currently
> > deciding whether to study maths or physics at university.
> >
>
> Tell him to study math rather than maths.

...unless he decides he wants to study physic.

Mike.