Re: P=NP: Linear Programming Formulation of the TSP

In article <1114713726.126023.259970@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
Jennifer Anderson <jen_ander_son@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>Why don't they just use computers to check if it's right?

Computers will at most be able to check that the formulation performs
correctly in a finite number of cases. This won't *prove* that P = NP.
For that, the argument that this works in general has to be checked for
logical correctness. And the world is not quite at the stage yet where
it is routine to write mathematical proofs of nontrivial theorems in
machine-checkable form.
--
Tim Chow tchow-at-alum-dot-mit-dot-edu
The range of our projectiles---even ... the artillery---however great, will
never exceed four of those miles of which as many thousand separate us from
the center of the earth. ---Galileo, Dialogues Concerning Two New Sciences
.