tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3722233.post116732622774471935..comments2024-03-29T08:55:55.727-05:00Comments on Computational Complexity: 2006 Year in ReviewLance Fortnowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06752030912874378610noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3722233.post-1167440229115869982006-12-29T18:57:00.000-06:002006-12-29T18:57:00.000-06:00Sure, Terry has written an important paper with nu...Sure, Terry has written an important paper with number-theoretic conclusions, but it's very misleading to call him a number theorist (and I don't believe he would call himself one). He's an analyst. Virtually all of his papers are not in number theory, and he doesn't have a lot of background in number theory or follow much of the number theory literature. He's probably more a number theorist than Manindra Agrawal is (to pick another prominent example of a non-number theorist who has proved a great theorem in number theory), but not overwhelmingly.<BR/><BR/>The second commenter seems to think this opinion is a form of snobbery, but I don't intend it that way. Terry's a brilliant mathematician who can do whatever sort of research he wants, but his background and primary interests are not in number theory.<BR/><BR/>(By the way, I don't know of anybody who thinks only algebraic number theory counts as number theory.)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3722233.post-1167422461267039372006-12-29T14:01:00.000-06:002006-12-29T14:01:00.000-06:00He can be classified to work both in crypto, AI, a...He can be classified to work both in crypto, AI, and their intersecation. Some of his work - like stegonography - is more related to crypto, some - like using games to label images - is more related to AI, and some - like CAPTCHAS - is really on the intersection of crypto and AI. <BR/><BR/>Alternatively, perhaps we should play one of Luis' games to label him properly :).zaumkahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04810392740674199906noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3722233.post-1167403207801641582006-12-29T08:40:00.000-06:002006-12-29T08:40:00.000-06:00While we are assigning people their arbitrary clas...While we are assigning people their arbitrary classifications, is Luis really a cryptographer?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3722233.post-1167358073266044992006-12-28T20:07:00.000-06:002006-12-28T20:07:00.000-06:00Terry Tao spans many areas but I don't think he is...<I>Terry Tao spans many areas but I don't think he is classified as a number theorist - his primary area seems to be analysis.</I><BR/><BR/>Given that probably his most prominent theorem is arbitrarily long arithmetic sequences in the primes, I think it's perfectly reasonable to call him a number theorist. Unless you're one of those people that only thinks algebraic number theory is number theory, and analytic number theory doesn't count.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3722233.post-1167353416675007662006-12-28T18:50:00.000-06:002006-12-28T18:50:00.000-06:00Terry Tao spans many areas but I don't think he is...Terry Tao spans many areas but I don't think he is classified as a number theorist - his primary area seems to be analysis.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com