When We Cease to Understand the World

Chapter 3 opens with the story of Japanese mathematician Shinichi Mochizuki. On his blog in 2012, he claims to have found a solution to the mathematical problem a + b = c. His colleagues attempt to verify his findings, but they find it hopelessly complex. In order to find his solution, he has created a whole new branch of mathematics that “consists of a series of underlying relationships between numbers that are invisible at first sight” (62).

The narrative then goes back in time to Mochizuki’s early life. He is a painfully shy childhood prodigy. At 16 he goes to Princeton and at 23 he earns a doctorate. Then he returns to Japan to work as a research professor at the Research Institute for Mathematical Sciences at the University of Kyoto. Over the years, he becomes increasingly agoraphobic. He calls the new branch of mathematics he develops Inter-Universal Teichmüller Theory. To develop his solution to the problem a + b = c, he uses this Inter-Universal theory, which “required mathematicians to conceive of numbers in a radically different way” (64). However, Mochizuki refuses to give interviews or defend his work, which makes many people skeptical about his findings.