How to build the global mathematics brain
- Updated 11:26 06 May 2011 by Jacob Aron
- Magazine issue 2811. New Scientist
Editorial: "Mathematics becomes more sociable"
MATHEMATICIANS don't have to be brilliant loners. The first analysis of a successful wiki-style mathematical project shows how a large-scale collaboration made up of amateurs and professionals can be just as effective.
The project, called Polymath, was born in January 2009 when University of Cambridge mathematician Timothy Gowers proposed it in a blog post. Another leading mathematician, Terence Tao of the University of California, Los Angeles, flagged the idea on his own blog. The project began in earnest with a wiki for collecting the mathematical contributions made to these and other blogs.