An even number large enough can be written as the sum of two odd prime numbers. That is 1+ 1.

The best proof so far is Mr. Chen Jingrun's 1+2.

This is just a guess, which has not been confirmed. You ask us, none of us know.

Goldbach's conjecture is one step away.

1742, a German math teacher Goldbach asked Euler, a great mathematician at that time, the following question: Every even number not less than 6 can be expressed as the sum of two odd prime numbers. But Euler failed to give an answer, which is the famous Goldbach conjecture. Gauss, the prince of mathematics, once said: "Number theory is the crown of mathematics, and Goldbach conjecture is the jewel in the crown". In fact, it is also a central topic of an important branch of analytic number theory. Mathematicians in China have made a series of important research achievements here. 1938, the famous mathematician Hua proved that almost all even numbers greater than 6 can be expressed as the sum of two odd prime numbers. In other words, Goldbach conjecture holds for almost all even numbers. Subsequently, China mathematicians Wang Yuan, Pan Chengdong and Chen Jingrun made a series of important progress on the weak Goldbach problem. Especially in 1966, Chen Jingrun solved the problem of Goldbach's conjecture "1+2" by screening. That is, there is a normal number, so that every even number greater than this constant can be expressed as the sum of the products of a prime number and no more than two prime numbers. This result is the best result of studying Goldbach's conjecture so far. It is generally called "Chen Theorem" internationally. Once this achievement was published, it immediately attracted the attention and interest of mathematicians all over the world. At that time, British mathematician Halberstam and German mathematician Li Xite were writing a monograph on sieve number theory. After the original ten chapters went to press, we saw the result of Chen Jingrun's "1+2" and specially printed the eleventh chapter. This chapter is called "Chen Theorem". Although this result is only one step away from Goldbach's conjecture (that is, "1+ 1"), it is very difficult to completely overcome it. Some mathematicians even think that it is almost impossible to solve Goldbach's conjecture without developing new mathematical tools.

Pick "the jewel in the crown" or the last.

(Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, August 20th, by reporter, Zhang Jingyang, Zou)

Xu Chi's famous reportage has made hundreds of millions of ordinary people know that "the queen of natural science is mathematics; The crown of mathematics is number theory; Goldbach guessed that it was the jewel in the crown ",and he also knew that Chen Jingrun was the closest person to that jewel in the world-just the last step. But after more than 20 years, no one can cross this step.

Goldbach conjecture has been speculated by human beings for 260 years. 1742, the German mathematician Goldbach wrote to the great mathematician Euler, proposing that every even number not less than 6 is the sum of two prime numbers (referred to as "1+ 1"). For example, 6=3+3, 24= 1 1+ 13 and so on. Euler wrote back that he believed the conjecture was correct, but he couldn't prove it.

Since then, many mathematicians have tried their best to conquer Germany in recent 170 years, but they have not made a breakthrough. Until 1920, the Norwegian mathematician Brown finally got closer to it, and proved that every big even number is the product of nine prime factors plus nine prime factors, that is, (9+9).

Since then, the "encirclement circle" of conjecture has been shrinking. 1924, German mathematician Rad mahar proved (7+7). 1932, the British mathematician eissmann proved (6+6). 1938, the Soviet mathematician Buchstaber proved (5+5), and proved (4+4) two years later. 1956, the Soviet mathematician vinogradov proved (3+3). 1958, China mathematician Wang Yuan proved (2+3) again. 1962 China mathematician pan chengdong proved (1+5) and Wang Yuan proved (1+4);

1965, Buchstaber and others proved it again (1+3). The "encirclement circle" is getting smaller and smaller and closer to the final goal (1+ 1).

1966, China mathematician Chen Jingrun became the closest person to this pearl in the world-it was proved (1+2). His achievements are in a leading position in the world and are called "Chen Theorem" by the international mathematics community. Due to his outstanding achievements in the study of Goldbach's conjecture, in 1982, Chen Jingrun won the first prize of the National Natural Science Award together with Wang Yuan and Pan Chengdong.

Since Chen Jingrun's proof (1+2), the last step of Goldbach's conjecture-proof (1+ 1) has not made substantial progress. Relevant experts believe that the original method has been used to the extreme, and it is necessary to put forward new methods and adopt new ideas, so as to get further research results in conjecture.

(Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, August 20th)