Using “refreshingly old” tools, mathematicians resolved a 50-year-old conjecture about how to categorize important functions called modular forms, with consequences for number theory and theoretical physics. The post New Proof Distinguishes Mysterious and Powerful ‘Modular Forms’ first appeared on Quanta Magazine
In a new proof, a long-neglected mathematical object has finally gotten its moment in the spotlight. At first glance, modular forms — functions whose abundant symmetries have intrigued mathematicians for centuries — seem to have garnered more than enough attention. They crop up in all sorts of problems: They were a key ingredient in Andrew Wiles’ 1994 proof of Fermat’s Last Theorem…