[ynniv]

a) Complicated academic proofs take (and should take) months if not years to verify, and will only be "front-page news" after verification. This is hardly the first unverified proof of the [edit: possible (in)]equality of P and NP.

b) The practical consequences of P=NP are immense. The practical consequences of P≠NP are that we can stop looking for computational unicorns and fairies.

We have for some time thought that P≠NP, but boy do people like those unicorns and fairies.

[Groxx]

I doubt it'll impact the unicorns-and-fairies searches significantly. Most people already work under the assumption that P≠NP.

Similarly, most people believe the world is round, and we go around the Sun. This hasn't prevented serious flat-Earthers nor geocentrists from existing.

[tel]

It has been something of a damper on their funding, however.

[jacquesm]

> This is hardly the first unverified proof of the equality of P and NP.

in 'a' above didn't you mean to write 'inequality of P and NP' ?

[ynniv]

I meant the general field of equality as it relates to P an NP, but I have edited for clarity.