Danny O'Brien is trying to comprehend Shinichi Mochizuki's work on the abc conjecture.
Now, Danny O'Brien is a very smart guy, so I feel his pain when he writes:
I cannot even get a purchase on these explanations. This is mathematics, which mean that — to my mind at least — it is the study of the innate structure of correspondences themselves, which means I can’t even get a shape in my head.
I'm no mathematician either, but I share O'Brien's desire to understand, to follow along, to try to get smarter in my own small way.
So I was intrigued to read Dick Lipton's glowing review of Dana Mackenzie's The Universe in Zero Words.
I'm still working my way through a few other books on my list, but I think I'll give Mackenzie's book a closer look as soon as I dig out from under the backlog.
Meanwhile, back to reading about the abc conjecture...
