Topic: Success in mapping 248-dimensional object

[Sirgod]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17688055/

By Sara Goudarzi
Staff Writer
Updated: 1 hour, 32 minutes ago

That high school math problem with a page-long solution was a cakewalk compared to a recent mathematics answer that would ink an area the size of Manhattan if written out in small print.

A total of 18 mathematicians and computer scientists from several countries worked for four years to successfully map the inner working of E8 — one of the most complicated structures in math, a 248-dimensional object. The findings were reported today by the American Institute of Mathematics.

IT get's pretty interesting the more you read.

Always like a good science/Math story.

Stephen

[Nemesis]

Another link to this subject

Unified theory

Adams and 17 other researchers solved the problem in a four-year project using a supercomputer at the University of Washington in Seattle. Their resulting map of E8 contains 60 gigabytes of information (see more on their website).

“This is an impressive achievement,” said Nicolai. He adds that the unique structure of E8 might help in the quest for a unified theory of gravity and the other forces in nature. This is because the underlying symmetries of the unified theory, if it really exists, will have to be complicated and unique.

“It will require an extremely special structure, mathematically speaking,” says Nicolai, “and E8 is an example of a symmetry that might fit the bill.”