Big List - Examples of Seemingly Elementary Problems That Are Hard To Solve

6/6/14 8:20 AM big list - Examples of seemingly elementary problems that are hard to solve?
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Examples of seemingly elementary problems that are hard to solve?
I'm looking for a list of problems such that
a) any undergraduate student who took multivariable calculus and linear algebra can understand the statements, (Edit: the definition of
understanding here is that they can verify a few small cases by themselves )
b) but are still open or very hard (say took at least 5 years to solve),
Edit: c) and first proposed in the 20th century or later.
Edit : my motivation is to encourage students to addict to solving mathematical problems.
I know that there are many such problems in number theory and combinatorics, for trivial example, Fermat's last theorem. I'll be more interested
in other fields, but less famous problems in number theory or combinatorics would be also welcome. For example,
1) The conjecture can be stated in an elementary language, but had been notoriously hard. See section 2.2 in Haiman's paper
.
n!
http://arxiv.org/abs/math.AG/0010246
2) Let be any positive integer, and let be indeterminates. Consider the sequence defined by the recursive relation
for any integer n. Prove that is of the form , where is a polynomial of and with non-negative coefficients, and Q is a monomial.
This problem appeared as a special case of a conjecture by Fomin and Zelevinsky in the context of cluster algebras around 2001. They proved
that can be written as . Proofs of positivity are recently obtained by Nakajima ( ) and Qin (
).
r , x
1
x
2
{ } x
n
= ( + 1)/ x
n+1
x
r
n
x
n1
x
n
P/Q P x
1
x
2
x
n
(polynomial)
(monomial)
http://arxiv.org/abs/0905.0002
http://arxiv.org/abs/1004.4171
3) Nagata conjecture : Let be a positive integer , but not a square. Consider random points on the plane . Let be any positive
number. Prove that the degrees of plane curves passing through each of the points at least times are greater than . See "Masayoshi
Nagata, On the 14-th problem of Hilbert. Amer. J. Math. 81 (1959) 766772". This is still wide open.
r 10 r R
2
m
r m m r
I'll be grateful for any more examples.

big-list soft-question examples
edited Sep 18 '11 at 2:49 community wiki
3 revisions, 2 users
96% Kyungyong Lee
1

You might like the answers to this question . And since you're looking for a list
of examples, you should check the "community wiki" box on your question.
mathoverflow.net/questions/51531/!
j.c. Sep 17 '11 at 21:14
14

I'm not sure that publicizing lists like this is necessarily a good idea: these are the problems that create cranks.
Thierry Zell Sep 17 '11 at 21:16
2

Outside number theory: solution of the general cubic and quartic; impossibility of angle trisection and cube-
doubling; unsolvability in radicals of the general quintic; the value of ; irrationality of (2) , and transcendence of
and
; the 13-sphere problem, and Kepler's conjecture on sphere-packing in e ; asymptotics of Ramsey numbers
(say
R
3
); ... R(n, n) Noam D. Elkies Sep 17 '11 at 21:27

Irrationality and transcendence are arguably number theory, and Ramsey numbers certainly fall under
combinatorics... Harry Altman Sep 18 '11 at 0:28
Does Goldbach count? Steve Huntsman Sep 18 '11 at 5:26
22 Answers
This is another one where it's hard to establish a lower bound due to not much work having been
6/6/14 8:20 AM big list - Examples of seemingly elementary problems that are hard to solve? - MathOverflow
This is another one where it's hard to establish a lower bound due to not much work having been
done on it -- it's been open since at least the 1980's, possibly the 1950's, but it's a pretty isolated
problem. I think though that we can say that it's probably hard because proving it would establish
better lower bounds on gaps between powers of 2 and powers of 3. (Or so I think I've been told, I'm
afraid I'm going on memory here.)
Let's let ||n|| denote the smallest number of 1's needed to write n using an arbitrary combination of
addition and multiplication. For instance, ||11||=8, because ,
and there's no shorter way. This is sequence .
11 = (1 + 1)(1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1) + 1
A005245
Then we can ask: For n>0, is ? Since it is known that for m>0, , we can ask
more generally: For n, m not both zero, is ? Attempting to throw in powers of 5
will not work; ||5||=5, but . (Possibly it could hold that for some yet
higher choices of a, but I don't see any reason that those should be any easier, though I suppose they
might lack the same lower bound on hardness.)
= 2n 2
n
= 3m 3
m
= 2n + 3m 2
n
3
m
= 29 < 30 5
6
= na a
n
J"nis Iraids has that this is true for (in particular, for with
n#39), and that so long as , it is true for all m. (Fixed
powers of 2 and arbitrary powers of 3 are much easier than arbitrary powers of 2!) In fact, using an
algorithmic version of the method in the linked preprint, I have computed that so long as , it is
true for all , though I'm afraid it will be some time before I get to writing that up...
checked by computer 2
n
3
m
10
12
2
n
Joshua Zelinsky and I have shown n 21
n 41
m
I don't think anything better than that is currently known.
edited Jul 26 '12 at 7:51 community wiki
3 revisions

This is known by some as the one-complexity of an integer; it would be nice to see some more recent references
besides that of Wolfram and Ed Pegg Jr. I am suspicious about the claim of Altman and Zelinsky: a reference to that
work would be welcome. (My memory says that there is a small n for which f(2^n) < 2n, but my memory has been
wrong before.) Harry Altman, would you kindly supply a link to your work with Zelinsky? Gerhard "Pretend I Am From
Missouri" Paseman, 2011.09.18 Gerhard Paseman Sep 18 '11 at 23:06

Well, here's on my website; the claim above also requires . I will admit that
verifying my computations is something of a problem (we couldn't figure out how to turn it into an algorithm, so I did
them by hand; if you like I can send you the text files I did the computations in). However for low n the computations
aren't long, and for n<=18 I also have an entirely different proof. (n<=13 follows from an earlier result of Rawsthorne.)
the draft this really long table I computed
Harry Altman Sep 18 '11 at 23:13

Thank you for the reference. I will review it along with whatever notes of mine I can recover. I will be sure to contact
you (or at least post here) if I find my memory is right. Thanks again for the link and the posting. Gerhard "Ask Me
About System Design" Paseman, 2011.09.18 Gerhard Paseman Sep 19 '11 at 0:38

@Gerhard Paseman: Now that we actually have more understandable preprint detailing our method, I've linked to it
above. Also, now that we can automate these computations... well, just see what I wrote above. Harry Altman Jul
26 '12 at 7:39
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delivered to your inbox ( ). see an example
. Any 15-year-old can understand what it says. Singmaster wrote that Paul
Erd$s told him it's probably true but probably very hard to prove.
Singmaster's conjecture
It says there's a finite upper bound on the number of times a number other than 1 appears in Pascal's
triangle. For all anyone knows for sure, the upper bound could be 8. And only one number is known
to appear that many times:
It is known that infinitely many numbers appear 6 times; infinitely many appear 4 times; infinitely
many appear 3 times, and infinitely many appear 2 times. (And only one appears just once.)
( )
=
( )
=
( )
=
( )
.
3003
1
78
2
15
5
14
6
Whether any number appears an odd number of times where the odd number is more than 3 is
Whether any number appears an odd number of times where the odd number is more than 3 is
unknown.
answered Sep 18 '11 at 2:45 community wiki
Michael Hardy

Well, I learned something today! Stupid question, though: are there any good reasons to believe that the conjecture
is true? (Besides the fact that uncle Paul thought that it was, I mean.) Thierry Zell Sep 22 '11 at 1:50
1

Singmaster did some computer searches that, for the time (1970s) might have been considered moderately
extensive. I think his paper(s) on the subject might say a bit more than that. I seem to recall that some his remarks
left me feeling that there's a certain untuitive plausibility, but I can't be more specific now. I seem to remember a
remark that there is only one row of Pascal's triangle where three consecutive entries form an arithmetic sequence
(row 14, i.e. the 15th row) and there might (or might not?) have been a hint that generally things can't happen very
often in Pascal's triangle. Michael Hardy Sep 22 '11 at 23:24
Is the sequence of fractional parts of dense in ? (3/2)
n
[0, 1]
This problem has a completeley elementary statement, yet noone has any idea how to prove it.
It is known that for almost every , is equidistributed in (this follows from a
much more general result of Weyl), and also that for almost every , the sequence is
equidistributed in (This was proved by Koksma in the 30s).
t t(3/2 mod 1 )
n
[0, 1]
> 1 mod 1
n
[0, 1]
It also follows from results of Pisot that has infinitely many accumulation points. (3/2 mod 1 )
n
This question is somewhat related to the question (already mentioned in an answer) of whether
famous irrational numbers are normal, but in a sense more elementary and frustrating because it is
only about multiplication/division by and ! 2 3
Pablo Shmerkin
Here are five problems which you might like:
(1) Are there 44 unit vectors in where the dot product between each pair is less than ?
5 1
2
I originally saw this formulation on . It is open, and related to the in 5
dimensions.
this MO post kissing number
(2) A is a square matrix all of whose entries are , and whose rows are
mutually orthogonal. Prove that there exists a Hadamard Matrix of size for every .
Hadamard Matrix 1
4k k 1
This is known as the . While it was considered by Hadamard in the 19th
century, it is still open today.
Hadamard Conjecture
(3) Given distinct points in the plane, what is the minimum number of distinct distances between
those points?
n
This is a famous , and while it has not completely been resolved, a near optimal
bound belongs to Guth and Katz. (See )
problem of Erdos
Terence Tao's blog post
(4) Prove that
where is the sum of divisors function and is the Harmonic
number.
(n) + log H
n
e
H
n
H
n
(n) = 1 + + + H
n
1
2
1
n
n
th
This problem is equivalent to the Riemann Hypothesis. This reformulation was done by Jeffrey
This problem is equivalent to the Riemann Hypothesis. This reformulation was done by Jeffrey
Lagarias. (Since the reformulation was more recent, I think it qualifies for this list)
(5) If is algebraic, and is irrational algebraic, will be transcendental? 0, 1
This is the well known This was resolved by Gelfond and Schneider in 1934.
Related to this, there is the famous story of Hilbert giving a lecture in 1919 where he said that he
might see the proof of the Riemann hypothesis in his life time, that the youngest members of the
audience might live to see Fermats Last Theorem proved, but no one present in the hall would live to
see a proof of transcendence of . Of course the exact opposite happened.
Hilbert's 7th Problem.
2
2

6 revisions
3 +1: very nice list :-) Suvrit Sep 18 '11 at 10:08
One simple to state problem in number theory is the , and I'm kind of surprised no
one has mentioned this one yet (considering the examples you cite, I suspect it is because this one
does not require anything beyond grade-school math to understand and so may seem below the level
of this question). Nevertheless I add it to the list because it is amazingly addictive to think about.
Collatz Conjecture
2 revisions
5 I think more likely nobody mentioned it because it's so well-known. Harry Altman Sep 18 '11 at 6:00
. If every vertex of an -vertex directed graph has at least edges leaving,
then the graph has a directed triangle.
Cacetta conjecture n n/3
You can explain this even to a non-mathematician with a few pictures.
Brendan McKay
The . Jacobian conjecture
Thierry Zell
I will list two very hard problems in linear algebra, that are in fact closely related.
1. Recall that the cross product of vectors in is not associative, and so if I write
, I have not specified a reasonably map . Rather, to specify
such a map, I must specify a parenthesization. Let's fix some , and consider two different
parenthesizations of (e.g. for , perhaps we consider
and . Is it true that there exists an -tuple of vectors so that both
parenthesizations give the same nonzero answer?
3
v
1
v
2
v
n
(
3
)
n
3
n
v
1
v
2
v
n
n = 3 ( ) v
1
v
2
v
3
( ) v
1
v
2
v
3
n
2. Choose a (finite) trivalent graph , meaning a graph in which every vertex has three edges
emanating from it, along with the following data: for each edge in the graph, choose a "left" end
and a "right" end, and for each vertex choose a "first", "second", and "third" edge. (Multiple
edges connecting the same vertex are allowed, but with no loss of generality you can assume
that no vertex connects to itself.) To such a graph I will assign a sequence of numbers
depending on a parameter actually, the sequence will not depend on the choice of
(N)
N
"left/right" for each edge, and will depend on the choice of "first/second/third" only up to a sign.
Suppose the graph has edges and vertices (by trivalence, ). The number
will be a sum of terms, indexed by assigning an ordered pair to each edge, where
range from to . Then what you do is this: near the left end of a given edge labeled
write the matrix which is all s except for a in the th spot, and near the right end
write the matrices which is all s except for a in the th spot. Do this for every edge, and
now go through the vertices. At each vertex, you see three matrices, , and I
want you to compute . That gives you a number for each vertex
(depending on the edge labelings); multiply all these vertex numbers together. Finally, as I said
above, to compute , sum this product over all possible edge labelings.
Then it is a not too hard fact that for each graph , is a polynomial in , with degree at
most . The question is: Suppose that the coefficient of on
is not zero. Is it necessarily true that is nonzero? You can say this asymptotically: if
, does it follow that ?
E V 2E = 3V (N)
(N
2
)
E
(i, j)
i, j 1 N (i, j)
N N 0 1 (i, j)
0 1 (j, i)
N N , , x
1
x
2
x
3
tr( ) tr( ) x
1
x
2
x
3
x
1
x
3
x
2
(N) N
2E
(N) N
2 + E V = 2 + V/2 (N) N
2+EV
(2)
(N)/ 0 lim
N
N
2+V/2
(2) 0
Each of these problems is borderline in combinatorics, but really is a natural question in linear algebra
(cross products; or traces of matrices). In fact, the answer to both is "yes". But the only known proofs
are very hard: both problems are equivalent to the Four Color Theorem in finite graph theory. If you
are looking for problems to give in a class, these are great ones: it's possible that some undergrad will
come up with a proof of one of them (especially 1), and then they have given an elementary proof of
Four Color.
Theo Johnson-Freyd
4

Just out of curiosity, is the equivalence to 4CT for either of these something that is itself difficult to see, or does it
follow naturally from some clever way of rewriting either of the above problems? ARupinski Sep 17 '11 at 22:38

For #2, the best write-up is by Dror Bar-Natan --- I don't have the reference handy. The short version: the leading
coefficient in counts the number of planar embeddings of (N) ; given a planar embedding, counts the
number of 4-colorings of the faces. For #1, I have some recollection that there's a write-up by Kauffman, but I think
the observation is first due to Penrose? It's not very hard to see the equivalence, especially if you understand the
(2)
part of #2. (2) Theo Johnson-Freyd Sep 18 '11 at 7:40

("counts" in my comment above means "counts up to some normalization factors", of course.)
Theo Johnson-Freyd Sep 18 '11 at 7:44
For an -tuple of vectors, what does "both" parenthesizations refer to? n Suvrit Sep 18 '11 at 10:05
@suvrit: To the two different parenthesizations mentioned in the preceding sentence. Hans Lundmark Sep 18 '11
at 13:26
The naive algorithm for multiplying two matrices takes operations. : Come up
with an algorithm that does it in . The so far is , and the conjecture is that
you can do it in for any .
n n O( ) n
3
Problem
O( ) n
2.1
best result O( ) n
2.37
O( ) n
2+
> 0
timur
One problem that my advisor infected me with was a conjecture of Peter Frankl: Let C be a finite
collection of finite sets closed under union. The easy version asks: is there an element x in union C
such that x is in at least half the members of C? The hard version asks if there is such a C in the easy
version, except that union C is nonempty. I and several others have rediscovered partial results; the
problem is still open from my perspective.
Another accessible problem for which some new research might be developed are the Graph
Reconstruction Conjectures. One version uses vertices and asks which unlabeled graphs on n
vertices are reconstructible from the collection of n subgraphs each on n-1 vertices. You can do a
web search for variations with edges, directed graphs, and so on.
Gerhard "Ask Me About System Design" Paseman, 2011.09.17
Gerhard "Ask Me About System Design" Paseman, 2011.09.17
Gerhard Paseman
Conway's : in any "thrackle," a particular type of drawing of a graph of
vertices and edges in the plane. Dangerously addictive! And advances made every few years; it is
by no means an isolated conjecture.
Thrackle Conjecture E V V
E

Joseph O'Rourke
Is normal in base , that is, are the base digits of evenly distributed among ,
for every integer ? Same question for , , and . These and most well-known irrational
numbers are not known to be normal in any base--yet almost all real numbers are normal in every
base.
b b 0, 1, 2, , b 1
b > 1 e ln 2 2

Jesse Elliott
A forty years old open conjecture in automata theory, called the %erny conjecture, asserts that if is
a set of mappings on symbols such that a constant map can be obtained by repeatedly composing
maps from , then a constant map can be obtained from a composition of at most elements
of , where repetitions are allowed. This is known to be a lower bound. The best known upper bound
is cubic.
X
n
X (n 1)
2
X
2 revisions, 2 users
67% Benjamin Steinberg
Maybe you want to limit it to problems first proposed in the 20th century or later? Otherwise, proving
the fundamental theorem of algebra took decades or longer. Gauss's first proof, for example, had a
famous topological gap found in the 1920's.
Several of Hilbert's problems from 1900 are understandable at undergrad level and stayed open
many years or are still open.
Then there are computer proofs, e.g. the 4-color theorem. Do those count? A few years ago we got a
multi-year computer calculation finally proving that checkers is a theoretical draw, something
everyone already knew even without an exhaustive proof.
Title of your question first sounded like merely "surprisingly difficult" rather than "stayed open at
research level for a long time". One I like from some other MO thread: let C be a curve inside the unit
square, connecting the lower left to upper right corner. Let D be a similar curve, connecting upper left
to lower right. Prove that C and D intersect.
none
1 I think none means this question: mathoverflow.net/questions/35514/! Joel Reyes Noche Sep 18 '11 at 1:05
Can every convex polyhedron be cut along its edges and unfolded into one connected piece without
overlap?
This problem was first posed formally by Shephard in 1975 (although it arguably dates back to the
1500s). There are also many related (un)folding problems which are still open, see
http://maven.smith.edu/~orourke/TOPP/P9.html#Problem.9
2 revisions
The Goldbach's conjecture:
Every even integer can be expressed as the sum of two primes. k > 2
The Waring's problem:
For each natural number there is a positive integer d such that every natural number is the sum of
at most
h
h -th powers of natural numbers. d
For every , let denote the minimum number of -th powers needed to represent all integers.
. For instance .
d h(d) d
The problem is to find h(d) h(1) = 1, h(2) = 4, h(3) = 9, h(4) = 19
Euler's conjecture: . h(d) = + [( ] 2 2
d 3
2
)
d
answered Apr 12 at 21:44 community wiki
Cobian
Did you notice where it says, "Edit: c) and first proposed in the 20th century or later."? Gerry Myerson Apr 13 at
1:20
Zamolodchikovs conjecture : Let be an -element set of indices, and an
indecomposable Cartan matrix of finite type. (You don't have to use these words. There is an explicit
list of matrices.) A family of commuting variables satisfying the recurrence relations
is periodic, more precisely, there exists a positive integer such that for all
and .
I n A = (a
ij
)
i,jI
( (t) Y
i
)
iI,t
(t + 1) (t 1) = ( (t) + 1 Y
i
Y
i

ji
Y
j
)
a
ij
h (t + 2(h + 2)) = (t) Y
i
Y
i
i t
This problem appeared in the theory of thermodynamic Bethe ansatz in 1991. Frenkel--Szenes and
independently Gliozzi--Tateo proved a partial result (type A) around 1995, and Fomin and Zelevinsky
completed in 2001.
Kyungyong Lee

If I remember correctly, there is an extension of the conjecture, where the variables are labelled by a product of two
(simply laced?) Dynkin diagrams, and where the periodicity is supposed to be the sum of the two dual coxeter
numbers. I think that's stil open(?) Andr Henriques Sep 30 '11 at 8:27
What numbers are integrally represented by the three-variable inhomogeneous polynomial
This is one of two similar problems where it is easy to show that certain integers are not represented
owing to their prime factorization. The first inkling that it might be possible to prove if and only if on a
characterization of represented numbers is due to Kevin Buzzard, in his answer to my first MO
question. The list of similar problems for class number three is at but in any case
works in my comment below
7 + 3xy + 9 + ? x
2
y
2
z
3
LINKSECONDTRY
My first MO question, with answer by Kevin Buzzard and evidence about why if-and-only-if is difficult,
is Integers not represented by 2 + xy + 3 + z x
2
y
2
z
3
2 revisions
1 The OP would likely object that this is number theory. Noam D. Elkies Sep 17 '11 at 21:46

agreed, "but less famous problems in number theory." Until today I'm the only one who knew this (and one of the few
who know why it is open), so this is < famous Will Jagy Sep 17 '11 at 21:54
1 OK, but then it's hard to get a good lower bound on the problem's difficulty. Noam D. Elkies Sep 17 '11 at 21:57
1
will works with manjul ??? Luis H Gallardo Sep 18 '11 at 18:49

Luis, I have known Manjul Bhargava for a long time, but we are hardly in touch these days (after Kaplansky died). In
April (I think) there was a week conference at MSRI, I told this and related problems to Manjul, Henri Cohen, and
Hendrik Lenstra. I saw little sign at the time that any of the three would pursue the matter, but there seemed to be
agreement that this was Manjul's area. I would be interested to hear if he has been working on this or, at least,
mentioning my collection of similar problems in talks. Class number three problems at
zakuski.utsa.edu/~jagy/jagy_list.pdf Will Jagy Sep 18 '11 at 19:24
Take two commutative rings and such that the polynomial rings and are isomorphic.
Does this imply that and are isomorphic? (I think this is still open.)
A B A[X] B[X]
A B
guy
2

This problem is called "cancelation of indeterminates" and the answer is known to be negative if is an
indeterminate or two. If
X
it is open. See |X| > 2 math.stackexchange.com/questions/13504/! Bruno Stonek Sep 19
'11 at 1:10
Which (nonconvex) planar polygons can be dissected into squares? ( ) Freiling et al., 2000
mikhail skopenkov
Check out from
RICHARD K. GUY AND RICHARD J. NOWAKOWSKI. This is from about 2002, so some of these
probably have been partly solved, but many are very easy to state.
Unsolved Problems in Combinatorial Game Theory More Games of No Chance
Taiyo Terada
f [x]
The Casas Alvero conjecture: Let be a monic polynomial of degree . Suppose that for
each , there is a common root of and . Then for some . It
is known only for the case that is a prime power or two times a prime power (see for example, ).
At some point I thought I proved it :-)
f [x] n
k = 1, , n 1 f f
(k)
f = (x a)
n
a
n this
answered Sep 30 '11 at 6:45
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6/6/14 8:20 AM big list - Examples of seemingly elementary problems that are hard to solve?

I'll be grateful for any more examples.

edited Sep 18 '11 at 12:01 community wiki

answered Sep 18 '11 at 3:31 community wiki

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