Bakuage offers prize of 120 million JPY to whoever solves Collatz conjecture, math problem unsolved for 84 years
8th July 2021
13 hours ago
- Highest Prize for Any Unsolved Problem in Mathematics -
Bakuage Co., Ltd. headquartered in Shibuya, Tokyo, announced on July 7, 2021, that it is offering a prize of 120 million Japanese yen (*) to anyone who has revealed the truth of the Collatz conjecture, an unsolved mathematical problem.
(*) 120 million Japanese yen is about US$1,085,000 (1US$=JPY110.50 as of June 29, 2021).
- What is Collatz conjecture?
The Collatz conjecture is one of unsolved problems in mathematics. It is a conjecture that repeatedly applying the following sequences will eventually result in 1: starting with any positive integer, divide it by 2 in the case of an even number and multiply it by 3 and add 1 in the case of any odd number. The conjecture is named after Lothar Collatz, who introduced the idea in 1937. Since then, it has remained unsolved with its truth not yet verified.