How to Win a Million-Dollar Math Prize

Date: Oct 11 2025 Noon - 14:00 EDT
Title: How to Win a Million-Dollar Math Prize

Summary: In 2000, the Clay Math Institute (CMI) presented seven Millennium Math Challenges, each with a $1,000,000 prize attached. In the quarter century since, mathematicians have solved only one of them. Of the remaining six challenges, one is notable for being more of a physics problem than a pure math problem: The Yang-Mills & Mass Gap problem, which seeks a mathematical symmetry group that gives a deeper understanding of how the concept of rest mass arises in particle physics. In this talk, Terry will explain why current methods cannot solve the problem and suggest new strategies that might succeed. Since Terry has no interest in winning the prize, his goal is to encourage others to take a fresh look at this intriguing math challenge.

Speaker: Terry Bollinger is a computer scientist with BS, MS, and Professional Degrees from the Missouri University of Science and Technology