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z 3 = 3 might be obvious to any high school algebra student, where x, y, and z can be either 1, 1, and 1, or 4, 4, and -5. Finding a third solution, however, has stumped expert number theorists for decades, and in 1953 the puzzle prompted pioneering mathematician Louis Mordell to ask the question: Is it even possible to know whether other solutions for 3 exist? “This was sort of like Mordell throwing down the gauntlet,” says Sutherland. “The interest in solving this question is not so much for the particular solution, but to better understand how hard these equations are to solve. It’s a benchmark against which we can measure ourselves.”

Roger heath brownDouglas adamsRandy bookerLouis mordellCharity engineProceedings of the national academy sciencesSimons foundationUniversity of bristolDrew sutherlandNational academyAndrew sutherlandAndrew bookerSum of cubesDiophantine equationMordells questionMathematics crowdsourcing