[Gllug] Four colour theorem, 150th anniversary event (Weds 23rd Oct, UCL)

[Tethys]

Alasdair G Kergon writes:

>In 1976 Kenneth Appel and Wolfgang Haken proved the Four Colour Theorem.
>It was a ground-breaking and controversial proof because it relied on 
>computers and it was too difficult for anyone to verify the proof directly.

Too difficult? I was under the impression that the calculations
weren't that complex. I thought it was more just that it was too
time consuming to check so many of them by hand, when a computer
could do the same number of calculations in a fraction of the time
(assuming, of course, that the program is correct to start with --
which I believe was the basis of much of the controversy).

Tet

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