[Ads-l] Formal versus informal senses: unsolvable - difficult to solve

ADSGarson O'Toole adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM
Mon Dec 18 21:34:22 UTC 2023


The Technology Review website recently posted an article with the
following odd (to me) title.

Article: Google DeepMind used a large language model to solve an
unsolvable math problem
Date: December 14, 2023

The word "unsolvable" has a specific meaning in the domains of
mathematical logic and theoretical computer science. For example, here
is a citation for a famous article. The title uses the word
"unsolvable" with a rigorous meaning. If a problem is unsolvable it
cannot be solved.

Alonzo Church, "An unsolvable problem of elementary number theory",
American Journal of Mathematics, 58 (1936), pp 345–363

Apparently, the person who constructed the title for the Technology
Review article is using an informal interpretation in which
"unsolvable" means difficult to solve.

If you follow the link to the article you will find that the title has
been updated. The word "unsolvable" has been replaced by "unsolved":

https://www.technologyreview.com/2023/12/14/1085318/google-deepmind-large-language-model-solve-unsolvable-math-problem-cap-set/

Article: Google DeepMind used a large language model to solve an
unsolved math problem

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