1+1 Theorem

Date: 8/5/96 at 22:29:45
From: Anonymous
Subject: 1+1 Theorem

What is the 1+1 theorem?

I have heard that a Chinese mathematician, J.R. Chen (same surname as
me, but no relation), proved some (1+2) theorem and was close to
proving the (1+1) theorem. He died in March this year, aged 63, and
was known for his exceptional talent in mathematics, his atrociously
poor health (he spent the last 13 years of his life in hospital), and
his total social withdrawal (to the extent that he would throw his
own money onto the ground for no apparent reason - he was totally
enveloped in his world of numbers). It's got something to do with some 
Goldbach person. I have no idea who Goldbach actually is, but the 
Chinese have apparently some mania about him. Dr. Chen was given a 
national funeral when he finally died, leaving a wife who was 20 years 
younger and a son who was 50 years younger than him. The (1+2) theorem 
was renamed Chen's theorem.

But what is the 1+1 theorem? And has there been any progress in its
proof?

Date: 8/7/96 at 7:55:7
From: Doctor Anthony
Subject: Re: 1+1 Theorem

I am not able to answer your question about the 1+1 theorem; however, 
Goldbach's conjecture is that every even number greater than 2 is the 
sum of two primes, e.g. 4 = 2+2,   6 = 3+3,    8=3+5 etc, etc.

-Doctor Anthony,  The Math Forum
 Check out our web site!  http://mathforum.org/dr.math/