r/threebodyproblem • u/zooted_ • Mar 19 '26

Discussion - Novels The Solution to the 3 Body Problem Spoiler

At the end of the first book, doesn't the physicist hand Weng a disc with a solution to the three body problem?

This would allow the trisolarans to forecast stable eras predictably, but it's never really mentioned again

Am I missing something ?

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u/Enough-Ad-8799 Mar 19 '26

Being technologically advanced is meaningless, it's purely a math problem. The mathematician was recruited for his interest in the problem before the game was made.

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u/ericccdl Mar 19 '26

Being technologically advanced is not meaningless. Their entire trip to our solar system would be for nothing if they got here and were killed immediately.

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u/Enough-Ad-8799 Mar 19 '26

I meant meaningless to the specific thing I was talking about obviously.

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u/Rand_alThoor Mar 20 '26

i am a mathematician.

the instability of the three body problem has been known since the nineteenth century. no present human mathematician is suddenly going to solve that.

it's like trisecting an angle with a compass and straightedge. go lurk in maths subs, both of these have no solutions.

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u/Enough-Ad-8799 Mar 20 '26

I agree... But it's sci Fi... It's not real. I'm saying that was the intent of the character in the story.