The Sheldon Conjecture

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44 points | by BerislavLopac 1710 days ago

5 comments

  • adenadel 1710 days ago
    Here's the proof of the Sheldon Conjecture

    https://math.dartmouth.edu/~carlp/sheldon022119.pdf

    • kyberias 1710 days ago
      From the proof:

      "The episode of The Big Bang Theory that contained the discussion about 73, was actually the 73rd of the series!"

  • AnimalMuppet 1710 days ago
    There are two conjectures here. The first is that 73 is the only number that matches these criteria. The second (as stated by Sheldon) is that meeting the criteria make a number "the best number". The second conjecture... let's just call that "unproven".
    • adrianmonk 1710 days ago
      I would call that second one a definition, not a conjecture. "Best" is an arbitrary value judgment. You can't prove what is or isn't best because it is not an objective question.

      But yes, it is an open question.

  • sytelus 1710 days ago
    My pet peeve with 73 being "best" number is that a lot of these properties relies on representing this number in decimal (or binary in case of Sheldon-Norris number). I'd like properties that were independent of base selected to represent the number.
    • artsyca 1710 days ago
      That's fair enough, but binary is the lowest base anyone can use...
  • decafbad 1710 days ago
    I lost it at Sheldon-Norris primes.
  • ErotemeObelus 1710 days ago
    Does anybody else think that Sheldon sounds like a psychopath?