There are about half a dozen problems that almost all mathematicians agree are supremely important. One that I particularly like is the “P = NP” problem.
This concerns a situation that occurs not just in mathematics but also in everyday life: often it is easy to recognise a solution to a problem, but not at all easy to find one. For example, if you are asked to factorise 10541, you will have to spend a long time searching for factors amongst the primes. But if you are told that 10541 is 83 × 127, it is routine to check that it…
