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"Lucky Numbers: Is It Wise to Bet on Mathematical Progress?" by Jim Holt. Lingua Franca, July/August 2000.
In this piece, Jim Holt wonders whether the million dollar prize for proving Goldbach's conjecture (every even number greater than 2 can be written as the sum of two prime numbers) by March 2002 is a "wise bet". The publishers who offered the prize are insured in this venture by Lloyd's of London. Thus the underwriter also had to make a "bet" on whether the conjecture would be proved by the deadline. If there is a payoff, Holt hopes that the sum will be paid in two parts: US$499,943 and US$500,057. Why did he choose those numbers?
--- Michael Breen
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