A baffling proof of the ABC conjecture set off a bitter divide among mathematicians
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As a science journalist, there are some stories that you return to again and again. There is climate change, of course – the biggest story of our time. Then there are the big questions, such as “what is consciousness?” or “are we alone in the universe?”, and so on. But one of the stories I simply cannot let go of is a mathematical argument that has been raging for over a decade. I call it “the proof that is only true in Japan”.
Let me…
