In order to celebrate mathematics in the new millennium, The Clay Mathematics Institute of Cambridge, Massachusetts (CMI) has named seven Prize Problems. The Scientific Advisory Board of CMI selected these problems, focusing on important classic questions that have resisted solution over the years. The Board of Directors of CMI designated a $7 million prize fund for the solution to these problems, with $1 million allocated to each.
Thinking that I know a little something about math and dreaming of ways I could use a million dollars, I took a look at some of the problems. Needless to say, I have to face the fact that I’m just not smart enough to solve any of them. I’m still trying to figure out if the explanation of each is in English or not.
Christianity is full of paradoxes. At some points it can be extremely simple, or incredibly complex. There are simple steps to becoming a Christian, and yet the spiritual process of how we become mature in Christ can be quite a complex problem. Is it really complex or do we just make it tough?
Churches argue doctrine on basically every point you can draw out of the Bible. Is it that complex or do we make it that way? The apostle Peter said that Paul wrote things that were difficult to understand. Yet we’d like to believe that the gospel message is clear and straightforward. So what is simple and what is not? Ponder that one while I work on Riemann’s Hypothesis and Hodge’s Conjecture.
