The Polymath Projects have been tackling large and difficult problems collaboratively via blog comments. I have written about them here and here.
For those who like the idea of approaching mathematics collaboratively but have been intimidated by the difficulty of the problems, I recommend the Minipolymath2 project which has just started and involves an intriguing puzzle with coins and boxes. All ability levels are welcome, and as Terry Tao points out, “Even very simple or “obvious” comments, or comments that help clarify a previous observation, can be valuable.”
Filed under: Mathematics
