- Open problem
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"Open question" redirects here. For information on open-ended questions, see closed-ended question.
In science and mathematics, an open problem or an open question is a known problem that can be accurately stated, and has not yet been solved (no solution for it is known). Some questions remain unanswered for centuries before solutions are found. Two notable examples in mathematics that have been solved and closed by researchers in the late twentieth century are Fermat's Last Theorem[1] and the four color map theorem.[2][3] An important mathematics open problem solved in early 21st century is the Poincare Conjecture.
Important open problems exist in many fields, such as Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Computer science, and Mathematics. For example, one of the most important open problems in biochemistry is the protein structure prediction problem[4][5] – how to predict a protein's structure from its sequence.
It is common in graduate schools to point out open problems to students. Graduate students as well as faculty members often engage in research to solve such problems.
See also
- List of unsolved problems (by major field)
- Hilbert's problems
- Millennium Prize Problems
References
- ^ Faltings, Gerd (July 1995), "The Proof of Fermat's Last Theorem by R. Taylor and A. Wiles" (PDF), Notices of the AMS 42 (7): 743–746, ISSN 0002-9920, http://www.ams.org/notices/199507/faltings.pdf
- ^ K. Appel and W. Haken (1977), "Every planar map is four colorable. Part I. Discharging", Illinois J. Math 21: 429–490. MR 58:27598d
- ^ K. Appel, W. Haken, and J. Koch (1977), "Every planar map is four colorable. Part II. Reducibility", Illinois J. Math 21: 491–567. MR 58:27598d
- ^ Vendruscolo, M.; Najmanovich, R.; Domany, E. (1999), "Protein Folding in Contact Map Space", Physical Review Letters 82 (3): 656–659, Bibcode 1999PhRvL..82..656V, doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.82.656
- ^ Dill, K.A.; Ozkan, S.B.; Weikl, T.R.; Chodera, J.D.; Voelz, V.A. (2007), "The protein folding problem: when will it be solved?", Current Opinion in Structural Biology 17 (3): 342–346, doi:10.1016/j.sbi.2007.06.001, PMID 17572080, http://laplace.compbio.ucsf.edu/~jchodera/pubs/pdf/protein-folding-problem.pdf
External links
- Kennedy, Donald; Norman, Colin (2005), "What Don't We Know?", Science 309 (5731): 75–75, doi:10.1126/science.309.5731.75, PMID 15994521, http://www.sciencesignaling.org/cgi/content/summary/sci;309/5731/75
- "So much more to know", Science 309 (5731): 78–102, July 2005, doi:10.1126/science.309.5731.78b, PMID 15994524
- Open Problem Garden The collection of open problems in mathematics build on the principle of user editable ("wiki") site
Categories:- Open problems
- Mathematics stubs
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