List of unsolved problems in mathematics

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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, mathematical logic, 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, and the problems listed here vary widely in both difficulty and importance.

Notable lists

For over a century, 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, with the Millennium Prize Problems each containing a reward of one million dollars.

List Number of
problems
Number unsolved
or incompletely solved
Proposed by Proposed
in
Hilbert's problems[1] 23 13 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 2 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
DARPA's math challenges[9][10] 23 – DARPA 2007
Erdős's problems[11] > 1220 644 Paul Erdős Over six decades of Erdős' career, from the 1930s to 1990s
The Riemann zeta function, subject of the Riemann hypothesis[12]

Millennium Prize Problems

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.[13] 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.[14]

Notebooks

Unsolved problems

Algebra

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In the Bloch sphere representation of a qubit, a SIC-POVM forms a regular tetrahedron. Zauner conjectured that analogous structures exist in complex Hilbert spaces of all finite dimensions.

Group theory

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The free Burnside group B(2,3) is finite; in its Cayley graph, shown here, each of its 27 elements is represented by a vertex. The question of which other groups B(m,n) are finite remains open.

Representation theory

Analysis

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Combinatorics

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Dynamical systems

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A detail of the Mandelbrot set. It is not known whether the Mandelbrot set is locally connected or not.

Games and puzzles

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Combinatorial games

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Games with imperfect information

Geometry

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Algebraic geometry

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Covering and packing

Differential geometry

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Discrete geometry

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In three dimensions, the kissing number is 12, because 12 non-overlapping unit spheres can be put into contact with a central unit sphere. (Here, the centers of outer spheres form the vertices of a regular icosahedron.) Kissing numbers are only known exactly in dimensions 1, 2, 3, 4, 8 and 24.

Euclidean geometry

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  • Are the two Meissner tetrahedra the minimum-volume three-dimensional shapes of constant width?[85]
  • Moser's worm problem – what is the smallest area of a shape that can cover every unit-length curve in the plane?[86]
  • The moving sofa problem – what is the largest area of a shape that can be maneuvered through a unit-width L-shaped corridor?[87]
  • In parallelohedron:
    • Can every spherical non-convex polyhedron that tiles space by translation have its faces grouped into patches with the same combinatorial structure as a parallelohedron?[88]
    • Does every higher-dimensional tiling by translations of convex polytope tiles have an affine transformation taking it to a Voronoi diagram?[89]
  • Ropelength problems:
    • Is there a general expression for the minimum ropelength of an arbitrary closed knot?
    • What constant 1.1<a≤10.76 governs the lower bound of a closed knot K's minimum ropelength L(K)≥aCr⁡(K)3/4?
    • Is the upper bound of a closed knot's minimum ropelength linear to its crossing number?
    • Is there a general expression for how much the ends of a long rope of radius 1 get closer when a tight open knot is tied into it?
  • Does every convex polyhedron have Rupert's property?[90][91]Template:Efn
  • Shephard's problem (a.k.a. Dürer's conjecture) – does every convex polyhedron have a net, or simple edge-unfolding?[92][93]
  • Is there a non-convex polyhedron without self-intersections with more than seven faces, all of which share an edge with each other?
  • The Thomson problem – what is the minimum energy configuration of n mutually-repelling particles on a unit sphere?[94]
  • Convex uniform 5-polytopes – find and classify the complete set of these shapes[95]

Non-Euclidean geometry

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Graph theory

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Algebraic graph theory

Games on graphs

Graph coloring and labeling

An instance of the Erdős–Faber–Lovász conjecture: a graph formed from four cliques of four vertices each, any two of which intersect in a single vertex, can be four-colored.

Graph drawing and embedding

Restriction of graph parameters

Subgraphs

Word-representation of graphs

Miscellaneous graph theory

Model theory and formal languages

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  • The Cherlin–Zilber conjecture: A simple group whose first-order theory is stable in ℵ0 is a simple algebraic group over an algebraically closed field.
  • Generalized star height problem: can all regular languages be expressed using generalized regular expressions with limited nesting depths of Kleene stars?
  • For which number fields does Hilbert's tenth problem hold?
  • Kueker's conjecture[156]
  • The main gap conjecture, e.g. for uncountable first order theories, for AECs, and for ℵ1-saturated models of a countable theory.[157]
  • Shelah's categoricity conjecture for Lω1,ω: If a sentence is categorical above the Hanf number then it is categorical in all cardinals above the Hanf number.[157]
  • Shelah's eventual categoricity conjecture: For every cardinal λ there exists a cardinal μ(λ) such that if an AEC K with LS(K)≤λ is categorical in a cardinal above μ(λ) then it is categorical in all cardinals above μ(λ).[157][158]
  • The stable field conjecture: every infinite field with a stable first-order theory is separably closed.
  • The stable forking conjecture for simple theories[159]
  • Tarski's exponential function problem: is the theory of the real numbers with the exponential function decidable?
  • The universality problem for C-free graphs: For which finite sets C of graphs does the class of C-free countable graphs have a universal member under strong embeddings?[160]
  • The universality spectrum problem: Is there a first-order theory whose universality spectrum is minimum?[161]
  • Vaught conjecture: the number of countable models of a first-order complete theory in a countable language is either finite, ℵ0, or 2ℵ0.
  • Assume K is the class of models of a countable first order theory omitting countably many types. If K has a model of cardinality ℵω1 does it have a model of cardinality continuum?[162]
  • Do the Henson graphs have the finite model property?
  • Does a finitely presented homogeneous structure for a finite relational language have finitely many reducts?
  • Does there exist an o-minimal first order theory with a trans-exponential (rapid growth) function?
  • If the class of atomic models of a complete first order theory is categorical in the ℵn, is it categorical in every cardinal?[163][164]
  • Is every infinite, minimal field of characteristic zero algebraically closed? (Here, "minimal" means that every definable subset of the structure is finite or co-finite.)
  • Is the Borel monadic theory of the real order (BMTO) decidable? Is the monadic theory of well-ordering (MTWO) consistently decidable?[165]
  • Is the theory of the field of Laurent series over ℤp decidable? of the field of polynomials over ℂ?
  • Is there a logic L which satisfies both the Beth property and Δ-interpolation, is compact but does not satisfy the interpolation property?[166]
  • Determine the structure of Keisler's order.[167][168]
  • What is the nature of the proof-theoretic ordinal (the smallest ordinal a theory cannot prove well-founded) for second-order arithmetic, ZFC, or stronger theories?[169]

Probability theory

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Number theory

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General

6 is a perfect number because it is the sum of its proper positive divisors, 1, 2 and 3. It is not known how many perfect numbers there are, nor if any of them is odd.

Additive number theory

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Algebraic number theory

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Analytic number theory

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Arithmetic geometry

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Computational number theory

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Diophantine approximation and transcendental number theory

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The area of the blue region converges to the Euler–Mascheroni constant, which may or may not be a rational number.

Diophantine equations

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Prime numbers

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Goldbach's conjecture states that all even integers greater than 2 can be written as the sum of two primes. Here this is illustrated for the even integers from 4 to 28.

Set theory

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The following conjectures are expressed in the first-order language of axiomatic set theory and, unless stated otherwise, are here taken to be over Zermelo-Frankel set theory, possibly with Choice. In particular, the conjecture's independence may not be open in set theories with a wider or conflicting class of models, such as the various constructive resp. non-wellfounded set theories, etc.

Topology

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The unknotting problem asks whether there is an efficient algorithm to identify when the shape presented in a knot diagram is actually the unknot.

Problems solved since 2015

The Einstein problem asks whether aperiodic monotiles, like the Tile(1,1) pictured here, exist.

Algebra

Group theory

Analysis

Combinatorics

Dynamical systems

Game theory

Geometry

Graph theory

Number theory

Ramsey theory

Theoretical computer science

Topology

See also

Notes

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References

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Further reading

Books discussing problems solved since 1995

Books discussing unsolved problems

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