Mystery Math Whiz and Novelist Advance Permutation Problem
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Submission timeline
2007–2026One slot for every year since HN launched. Height is that year's peak points; orange marks a 100+ point or 50+ comment breakout. Select a bar to open its strongest thread.
First comments on top threads
HN comment orderI’m one of the people who has worked on this problem, and is quoted in the article. Anyone who is seriously interested in this problem may join the group[0] where most of the interested people hang out. We’re making progress pretty rapidly at the moment. The lower bound has recently been improved (by one), and Greg Egan’s construction has been shown to be the best possible under certain conditions. I think it’s reasonably likely – though definitely not certain –…
Interesting that the folks who wrote a proof based on the 4Chan user's post listed him as a first author. In all of my experience, Mathematics truly seems to be the field with the highest integrity.
The first top-level comment from each of the four biggest threads, in HN’s own order. Excerpts are shortened; open a comment for full context.
- Breakout years
- 2
- Total points
- 569
- Total comments
- 172
100+ points or 50+ comments
reference only — not used in Hall rules or ranking
reference only — not used in Hall rules or ranking
Every submission
| Date | Title as submitted | By | Points | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018-11-05 | Mystery Math Whiz and Novelist Advance Permutation Problem | robinhouston | 7 | 0 |
| 2018-11-06 | Mystery Math Whiz and Novelist Advance Permutation ProblemFirst breakout · Best thread | beefman | 343 | 80 |
| 2023-06-05 | Random 4Chan User proves lower bound on Super permutationsLatest 20+ point return | sashank_1509 | 218 | 92 |
| 2026-05-19 | Mystery Math Whiz and Novelist Advance Permutation Problem (2018) | mooreds | 1 | 0 |