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Thread: An inmate used solitary to learn math and is now solving the world's hard equations

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    Post An inmate used solitary to learn math and is now solving the world's hard equations

    An inmate used solitary confinement to learn math and is now solving the world's hardest equations...

    If Hollywood had made up this story, you would think: "Well, that's pretty far-fetched. Cheesy. All a bit overblown." But, as we know, reality can be stranger than fiction. For a long time, however, reality was very hard for Christopher Havens from the United States. The 40-year-old has been in prison near Seattle for nine years after being convicted of murder. Havens dropped out of school, went off the rails, couldn't find a job and became a drug addict. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison for the murder and still has 16 to go.

    But in prison, Havens' life changed when he discovered his passion for math. He taught himself the basics of higher mathematics, which was not easy to do because the prison wardens intercepted the books he had ordered by mail. Havens was allowed to have the textbooks only after he had agreed to teach math to other prisoners as well. After a while, basic higher mathematics was not enough for him. Havens sent a short handwritten letter to a mathematical publisher and asked for some issues of the Annals of Mathematics, a renowned journal in the field. He wrote that numbers had become his "mission" and that he had decided to use his time in prison for self-improvement. However, he lamented in the letter, he had no one with whom he could discuss complex mathematical topics.

    Eventually, a professor invited Havens to help him with an ancient math problem - And indeed: Havens cracked the age-old math puzzle and for the first time found some regularities in the approximation of a large class of numbers. This was already quite an achievement. But the prisoner Havens not only cracked an ancient problem of mathematics: He also managed to inspire a group of fellow prisoners for the world of numbers through his passion. A regular math club has since been formed at the prison.


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    Murderer solves ancient math problem and finds his mission: https://www.dw.com/en/murderer-solve...ion/a-53895884

    This from the professor's daughter: https://theconversation.com/an-inmat...overies-130123



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    Last edited by DGUtley; 02-24-2021 at 08:13 AM.
    Any time you give a man something he doesn't earn, you cheapen him. Our kids earn what they get, and that includes respect. -- Woody Hayes​

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    Did he show his work?

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    no death penalty in washington i assume?

    Which raises the question in my mind again. are people with superior talents exempt from the laws the rest of us must obey?

    asking for a friend.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Calypso Jones View Post
    no death penalty in washington i assume? Which raises the question in my mind again. are people with superior talents exempt from the laws the rest of us must obey? asking for a friend.
    Washington State abolished the death penalty in 2018.

    Asking for a friend - how do you get from 'no death penalty in Washington I assume' to 'are people with superior talents exempt from the laws the rest of us must obey? This is a serious inquiry, not intended to be a jab. This guy is doing 25 years - I hardly call that exempt. Unless, of course, anything less than the death penalty is considered exempt. Full disclosure: I am opposed to the death penalty for much the same reason I oppose abortion - it is the taking of a life.
    Any time you give a man something he doesn't earn, you cheapen him. Our kids earn what they get, and that includes respect. -- Woody Hayes​

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