On Mar 1, 5:19=A0pm, Gene Ward Smith <g...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> The following web page gives its choices for the 100 greatest
mathematical=
> theorems:
>
> http://personal.stevens.edu/~nkahl/Top100Theorems.html
>
> It has no canonical status whatever, and Theorem 20 is incorrect as
stated=
..
> But what the hey. What I found interesting were that the two of top
theore=
m
> holders on this list were, you guessed it, Euler and Gauss. Which gives
> some idea of how famous they are as mathematicians.
>
> Euler scores with the generalized Fermat little theorem, the V-E+F=3D2
> theorem, the summation of the reciprocals of the square numbers, solving
> Pell's equation, the pentagonal number theorem for partitions, the
> Konigsberg bridges problem, and the divergence of the sum of the
> reciprocals of the primes, for a total of seven.
One of those seven is not like the others. I'm not sure if Euler
actually proved (or even stated) the characterization of "Eulerian"
graphs, and I'm too lazy to look it up, but even if he did, it seems
to lack the depth and im****tance of the other six. I'm not sure it
even belongs on a list of *Euler's* top 100 theorems.
Gauss scores with the
> fundamental theorem of algebra, quadratic reciprocity, and the
independenc=
e
> of the parallel postulate, for a total of three.
Did Gauss prove the independence of the parallel postulate? I thought
I read somewhere that that was done (model for non-Euclidean geometry)
later and by some less notorious mathematician. On the other hand,
shouldn't constructible polygons be on the list? Like you said, it's
not canonical.
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