Collatz conjecture

Dear Veeky Forums,

Would it be of any use to mathematics if I found such a number?

was xkcd ever good?

It was always relevant.

>implying it's not right now

To be fair, you need a very high IQ to understand xkcd.

the jokes were lame and forced half the time but I'm glad I read some of them for the topics he covered

Pure mathematics (especially number theory) is gender-studies tier. The only way that I could see a theorem proving/disproving the Collatz conjecture being useful is in the field of dynamical systems, and even that's a long shot. Just study analysis like a real man.

Tbh, I come from a Gridcoin point of view and hate this project.

When you were a STEM freshman.
Don't lie to yourself, you liked it.

>number theory is gender-studies tier

Are you fucking serious? Modern encryption is just as hand-wavy as gender studies then, right?

Math degree is equally unemployable. PhD Mathematicians are equally useless.

kek

modern encryption has actual applications, gender studies and pure mathematics don't.

PhD is good if you want to barely get by and just research your whole life. Unless you are gonna do something seriously breakthrough or you're going to be a physician you should get a Master's tops.

>PhD Mathematicians are equally useless
>Teams of said people hired daily to work in labs utilizing supercomputers, big data firms, ect
>Mathematicians experience +20% job growth while others decline or shrink

t. Brainlet

Just because (you) or anyone else cannot foresee an application for a result doesn't mean that there will never be one. Do you think that Gauss and Euler could have predicted that their work in number theory would be used in cryptography 200 years later? Do you think you could even convey to them what encryption technology is and why it's important, if you could go back in time?

Also the "pure vs. applied" dichotomy is not as fixed as you and others think it is. People find applications for pure mathematics even if the applications weren't the original motivation for the math, and likewise, applied math becomes pure as people try to generalize those results and understand them better.

What is the collatz conjecture actually used for, other than basic algorithm homework assignment for CS 101 kids

Yes, but such a number probably doesn't exist.

>Do you think you could even convey to them what encryption technology is and why it's important, if you could go back in time?

Not to dispute your point, but I'm sure you could. Codes existed long before Gauss and Euler.

Oh I'm sure you could explain what encryption is. But the technology that implements it and the applications (e.g. using credit cards online) would be very foreign to them and the average person probably doesn't know enough to even adequately explain the internet to someone from that time.

The average person isn't having this argument tho, the average person here could probably get the point across tho.

The person I was responding to probably couldn't and I don't think the average person on this board would do much better to be honest