# Can Anyone Spot the Error? **URL:** \ **Category:** random\ **Created:** [September 10, 2004, 2:38am UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/can-anyone-spot-the-error/63806 "2004-09-10T02:38:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![kirupa](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex011/user_avatar/forum.kirupa.com/kirupa/32/11616_2.png) [@kirupa](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/kirupa)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2004, 2:38am UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/can-anyone-spot-the-error/63806/1 "2004-09-10T02:38:36Z")
The following is from an actual 1995 Boston Globe Artice: > **Goldbach’s conjecture** , after a proposition penned by Prussian mathematician Christian Goldbach in 1742, holds that every even number can be expressed by the sum of two prime numbers (thus, 20 can be expressed by 9 and 11). It has never been fully proven. > [size=1]**(no url - the communists force non-boston student types to pay to see the full text)**[/size] Can any of you spot the error in this article? It’s funny once you figure it out…for me it was funny at least 🙂 [size=4][color=blue][color=black]If you think you have the right answer, use the [/color]**[color=black]Spoiler tag[/color] ( [.spoiler=intro text]answer[./spoiler] [size=1](minus the . periods)[/size]** [/color][color=black]as to not ruin it for those who are trying to figure it out.[/color][/size] [size=1]EDIT: You don’t need to know anything about Goldbach’s conjecture.[/size] [size=1]EDIT2: The error is \*\*not \*\*that this was recently almost solved.[/size] ---
**Author:** ![system](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex011/uploads/kirupa/original/3X/6/2/621e5c11736f46532526e61be85940af4230f3e5.png) [@system](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2004, 2:39am UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/can-anyone-spot-the-error/63806/2 "2004-09-10T02:39:42Z")
wow im stumped ---
**Author:** ![system](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex011/uploads/kirupa/original/3X/6/2/621e5c11736f46532526e61be85940af4230f3e5.png) [@system](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2004, 2:44am UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/can-anyone-spot-the-error/63806/3 "2004-09-10T02:44:31Z")
erm, it doesnt apply to the numbers 2 or 1? ---
**Author:** ![system](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex011/uploads/kirupa/original/3X/6/2/621e5c11736f46532526e61be85940af4230f3e5.png) [@system](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2004, 2:46am UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/can-anyone-spot-the-error/63806/4 "2004-09-10T02:46:38Z")
> [@tucker](#): > > erm, it doesnt apply to the numbers 2 or 1? Nope :x ---
**Author:** ![system](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex011/uploads/kirupa/original/3X/6/2/621e5c11736f46532526e61be85940af4230f3e5.png) [@system](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2004, 2:47am UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/can-anyone-spot-the-error/63806/5 "2004-09-10T02:47:12Z")
[spoiler=answer]9 aint a prime number…what a gas[/spoiler] ---
**Author:** ![system](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex011/uploads/kirupa/original/3X/6/2/621e5c11736f46532526e61be85940af4230f3e5.png) [@system](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2004, 2:48am UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/can-anyone-spot-the-error/63806/6 "2004-09-10T02:48:00Z")
🙂 ---
**Author:** ![system](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex011/uploads/kirupa/original/3X/6/2/621e5c11736f46532526e61be85940af4230f3e5.png) [@system](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2004, 2:48am UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/can-anyone-spot-the-error/63806/7 "2004-09-10T02:48:45Z")
[//Math.Sqrt](https://Math.Sqrt)(-4) ? Oh lol 😛 ---
**Author:** ![system](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex011/uploads/kirupa/original/3X/6/2/621e5c11736f46532526e61be85940af4230f3e5.png) [@system](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2004, 2:48am UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/can-anyone-spot-the-error/63806/8 "2004-09-10T02:48:47Z")
hey K dude maybe u should edit my post so as to not give it away ---
**Author:** ![system](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex011/uploads/kirupa/original/3X/6/2/621e5c11736f46532526e61be85940af4230f3e5.png) [@system](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2004, 2:49am UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/can-anyone-spot-the-error/63806/9 "2004-09-10T02:49:44Z")
or u could use the COOL spoiler tags! ---
**Author:** ![system](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex011/uploads/kirupa/original/3X/6/2/621e5c11736f46532526e61be85940af4230f3e5.png) [@system](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2004, 2:51am UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/can-anyone-spot-the-error/63806/10 "2004-09-10T02:51:35Z")
i remember reading them a while back. whats the code ---
**Author:** ![system](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex011/uploads/kirupa/original/3X/6/2/621e5c11736f46532526e61be85940af4230f3e5.png) [@system](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2004, 2:51am UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/can-anyone-spot-the-error/63806/11 "2004-09-10T02:51:50Z")
[spoiler=answer]9 is not a prime number at least I dont think it is.[/spoiler] oops didnt refresh the page dang you guys are fast ---
**Author:** ![system](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex011/uploads/kirupa/original/3X/6/2/621e5c11736f46532526e61be85940af4230f3e5.png) [@system](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2004, 2:53am UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/can-anyone-spot-the-error/63806/12 "2004-09-10T02:53:22Z")
[spoiler=spoiler title here]spoiler here[/spoiler] ---
**Author:** ![system](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex011/uploads/kirupa/original/3X/6/2/621e5c11736f46532526e61be85940af4230f3e5.png) [@system](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2004, 3:03am UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/can-anyone-spot-the-error/63806/13 "2004-09-10T03:03:43Z")
Just revised my post encouraging people to use the spoiler tag to see if they have the right answer 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![system](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex011/uploads/kirupa/original/3X/6/2/621e5c11736f46532526e61be85940af4230f3e5.png) [@system](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2004, 3:15am UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/can-anyone-spot-the-error/63806/14 "2004-09-10T03:15:16Z")
doh…cant get it to work… ---
**Author:** ![system](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex011/uploads/kirupa/original/3X/6/2/621e5c11736f46532526e61be85940af4230f3e5.png) [@system](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2004, 1:40pm UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/can-anyone-spot-the-error/63806/15 "2004-09-10T13:40:39Z")
Funny, but I couldn’t help reading what was inside the spoiler tag :beam: ---
**Author:** ![system](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex011/uploads/kirupa/original/3X/6/2/621e5c11736f46532526e61be85940af4230f3e5.png) [@system](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2004, 1:50pm UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/can-anyone-spot-the-error/63806/16 "2004-09-10T13:50:00Z")
Spoiler tags are just too tempting. We need a new less tempting tag. Something like: “Read this:”. (I know I wouldn’t bother.) ---
**Author:** ![system](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex011/uploads/kirupa/original/3X/6/2/621e5c11736f46532526e61be85940af4230f3e5.png) [@system](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2004, 1:55pm UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/can-anyone-spot-the-error/63806/17 "2004-09-10T13:55:17Z")
either I missunderstand something or this is really crappy. a) you cannot express any number by the sum of prime numbers (except you use negative prime numbers too). If I’m wrong sum up two numbers to reach 3 and proof me wrong (remember 1 officially doesn’t count as a prime number) b) [spoiler=answer]9 is no prime number. ever tried to divide it by 3!!![/spoiler] edit: slow me, I just read the other spoilers… but is the guy who stated that an idiot or what 😛 ---
**Author:** ![system](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex011/uploads/kirupa/original/3X/6/2/621e5c11736f46532526e61be85940af4230f3e5.png) [@system](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2004, 1:56pm UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/can-anyone-spot-the-error/63806/18 "2004-09-10T13:56:37Z")
[EDIT] Sorry, I don’t know what I’m talking about. Mixing up conjectures and such. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![system](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex011/uploads/kirupa/original/3X/6/2/621e5c11736f46532526e61be85940af4230f3e5.png) [@system](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2004, 1:58pm UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/can-anyone-spot-the-error/63806/19 "2004-09-10T13:58:35Z")
Oh wait, I was right. Goldbach’s conjecture only applies to even numbers. Positive even numbers \>= 4. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex011/uploads/kirupa/original/3X/6/2/621e5c11736f46532526e61be85940af4230f3e5.png) [@system](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2004, 1:59pm UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/can-anyone-spot-the-error/63806/20 "2004-09-10T13:59:30Z")
> [@McGiver](#): > > If I’m wrong sum up two numbers to reach 3 and proof me wrong (remember 1 officially doesn’t count as a prime number) It only goes for even numbers :beam: [Next page](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/can-anyone-spot-the-error/63806.md?page=2)