[CytokineStorm]

Someone needs to prove that P != NP. Want to understand why that's important? Read this: http://cacm.acm.org/magazines/2009/9/38904-the-status-of-the...

[keefe]

it's also extraordinarily difficult if not impossible to prove. This is a problem for researchers, not people looking for ideas for startups.

[larsberg]

You could probably make some money on a "proof validation service" where you charge all of the crackpots who think they've solved P!=NP to validate their proof.

Or, if you just happen to find an error, send that back. But the service is free if you don't!

[nostrademons]

Why would a crackpot pay for this? Their incentive is for people not to find errors in their proofs, not for them to find errors.

[larsberg]

From talking to the mathy-side CS faculty in my department (UofC), the crackpots all think they've solved it. Genuinely, honestly, and completely.

These faculty complain about getting e-mail spam and sometimes even visits and phone calls out of the blue from people who claim to have solved it and want their proofs checked.

[powrtoch]

Talk about a difficult startup to pitch to investors.

[philwelch]

OTOH, if you prove that P = NP, you can probably make huge windfalls of money, and some of it may even be legitimate!