Many mathematical problems have been stated but not yet solved. These problems come from many areas of mathematics, such as theoretical physics, computer science, algebra, analysis, combinatorics, algebraic, differential, discrete and Euclidean geometries, graph theory, group theory, model theory, number theory, set theory, Ramsey theory, dynamical systems, and partial differential equations. Some problems belong to more than one discipline and are studied using techniques from different areas. Prizes are often awarded for the solution to a long-standing problem, and some lists of unsolved problems, such as the Millennium Prize Problems, receive considerable attention.
This list is a composite of notable unsolved problems mentioned in previously published lists, including but not limited to lists considered authoritative. Although this list may never be comprehensive, the problems listed here vary widely in both difficulty and importance.
Various mathematicians and organizations have published and promoted lists of unsolved mathematical problems. In some cases, the lists have been associated with prizes for the discoverers of solutions.
List | Number of problems |
Number unsolved or incompletely solved |
Proposed by | Proposed in |
---|---|---|---|---|
Hilbert's problems[1] | 23 | 15 | David Hilbert | 1900 |
Landau's problems[2] | 4 | 4 | Edmund Landau | 1912 |
Taniyama's problems[3] | 36 | - | Yutaka Taniyama | 1955 |
Thurston's 24 questions[4][5] | 24 | - | William Thurston | 1982 |
Smale's problems | 18 | 14 | Stephen Smale | 1998 |
Millennium Prize Problems | 7 | 6[6] | Clay Mathematics Institute | 2000 |
Simon problems | 15 | <12[7][8] | Barry Simon | 2000 |
Unsolved Problems on Mathematics for the 21st Century[9] | 22 | - | Jair Minoro Abe, Shotaro Tanaka | 2001 |
DARPA's math challenges[10][11] | 23 | - | DARPA | 2007 |
Of the original seven Millennium Prize Problems listed by the Clay Mathematics Institute in 2000, six remain unsolved to date:[6]
The seventh problem, the Poincaré conjecture, was solved by Grigori Perelman in 2003.[12] However, a generalization called the smooth four-dimensional Poincaré conjecture—that is, whether a four-dimensional topological sphere can have two or more inequivalent smooth structures—is unsolved.[13]
Note: These conjectures are about models of Zermelo-Frankel set theory with choice, and may not be able to be expressed in models of other set theories such as the various constructive set theories or non-wellfounded set theory.
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The conjecture was finally given an exceptionally elegant proof by A. Marcus and G. Tardos in 2004.
The 2007 prize also recognizes Green for "his many outstanding results including his resolution of the Cameron-Erdős conjecture..."
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..I will present a solution of the conjecture, which builds on min-max methods developed by F. C. Marques and A. Neves..
...Building on work of Codá Marques and Neves, in 2018 Song proved Yau's conjecture in complete generality
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Working with Ben Green, he proved there are arbitrarily long arithmetic progressions of prime numbers—a result now known as the Green–Tao theorem.
The conjecture, which dates back to 1844, was recently proven by the Swiss mathematician Preda Mihăilescu.
The Clay Mathematics Institute hereby awards the Millennium Prize for resolution of the Poincaré conjecture to Grigoriy Perelman.
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Ngô Bảo Châu is being awarded the 2010 Fields Medal for his proof of the Fundamental Lemma in the theory of automorphic forms through the introduction of new algebro-geometric methods.