Hilbert's Tenth Problem

Hilbert's tenth problem is the tenth on the list of Hilbert's problems of 1900. Its statement is as follows:

Given a Diophantine equation with any number of unknown quantities and with rational integral numerical coefficients: To devise a process according to which it can be determined in a finite number of operations whether the equation is solvable in rational integers.

A Diophantine equation is an equation of the form

where p is a polynomial with integer coefficients. It took many years for the problem to be solved with a negative answer. Today, it is known that no such algorithm exists in the general case. This result is the combined work of Martin Davis, Yuri Matiyasevich, Hilary Putnam and Julia Robinson.

Read more about Hilbert's Tenth Problem:  Formulation, Diophantine Sets, History, Applications, Further Results, Extensions of Hilbert's Tenth Problem

Famous quotes containing the words tenth and/or problem:

    “They say all lovers swear more performance than they are able, and yet reserve an ability that they never perform; vowing more than the perfection of ten, and discharging less than the tenth part of one.”
    —William Shakespeare (1564–1616)

    “The family environment in which your children are growing up is different from that in which you grew up. The decisions our parents made and the strategies they used were developed in a different context from what we face today, even if the “content” of the problem is the same. It is a mistake to think that our own experience as children and adolescents will give us all we need to help our children. The rules of the game have changed.”
    —Lawrence Kutner (20th century)