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"With Major Math Proof, Brute Computers Show Flash of Reasoning Power" by Gina Kolata. New York Times, 10 December 1996.
This article describes a recent proof, produced by a computer, of a mathematical conjecture that some of the best mathematicians of this century have tried and failed to prove. The Robbins conjecture, a statement in mathematical logic, was first proposed in the 1930s by Herbert Robbins, who is now 81 years old and a professor at Rutgers University. William McCune, a computer scientist at Argonne National Laboratory, wrote the automated reasoning program that produced the proof of the conjecture. His colleague, Larry Wos, called the fact that the computer could solve such a problem "a sign of power, of reasoning power." The article discusses speculation that such programs might fundamentally change how mathematics is done.
-Allyn Jackson
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