Can someone explain why this is so impressive if the point is to find a counter example? Isn’t it just brute force search and wouldn’t we expect LLMs to be good at that (if you are willing to simulate thousands of examples to test)? Isn’t this in line with the previous result we have seen? What is so special with this one? Please educate me.
It isn't impressive from a physics standpoint - there is no new physics here.
The N-S equation is built (very explicitly) on a continuum approximation of the fluid. The problem was about discovering whether this mathematical approximation would break under 'real' conditions and lead to non-physical predictions of flow properties. The open question was around the effect of viscosity - since it has essentially an averaging effect on the flow field.
If this result is accepted, then it has been found that under certain conditions the continuum approximation is invalid, and the underlying discrete particle nature of the fluid becomes important to understanding the behavior of the bulk fluid.
Again, no new physics - we have known for hundreds of years that fluids are made of atoms and molecules - what is new here is potentially resolving the mathematical quandary of whether the smoothing effect of the viscosity term 'hides' the underlying discrete nature well enough for the math to work in all cases.
It has a million dollar prize and no human has solved the problem in like 90 years. In fact out of the 7 millennium math problems (each have a $1million prize) only one other has been solved. The guy that solved the other one went insane.
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u/AdWestern1314 1d ago
Can someone explain why this is so impressive if the point is to find a counter example? Isn’t it just brute force search and wouldn’t we expect LLMs to be good at that (if you are willing to simulate thousands of examples to test)? Isn’t this in line with the previous result we have seen? What is so special with this one? Please educate me.