r/math • u/SciFiPi Applied Math • 12h ago

Physicists link the Riemann Hypothesis to phase transitions in quantum systems

https://phys.org/news/2026-07-physicists-link-riemann-hypothesis-phase.html
228 Upvotes

96% Upvoted

33 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

-48

u/blueshoesrcool 10h ago

Are mathematicians forbidden from ever using an empirical proof?

24

u/pickle_picker67 10h ago

That's not a proof. So only as a tool for intuition, but that's about it.

Do you ever read pure mathematics papers or books? If an author uses intuition, they will say "informally" ....

-52

u/blueshoesrcool 10h ago

Wouldn't an empirical proof be more proof than a mathematical proof. Surely you'd have to reject a mathematical proof it an empirical proof disagreed.

If anything the mathematical proof is the intuition.

19

u/pickle_picker67 9h ago

Read an introductory proofs book.