Re: [MLUG - DISCUSSION] James McCanney and the prime numbers

["Jonathan King" <EMAIL:PROTECTED>]

On 4/30/08, Mike Miller <EMAIL:PROTECTED> wrote:
> James McCanney seems to be a legitimate scientist, but with only an MS and
> probably a lot of crazy ideas.  He claims to have produced a "formula that
> directly calculates the prime numbers."  He is trying to make some money:
>
> http://www.calculateprimes.com/BookDVDOrderSubPage.HTM
>
> I'm not sure if he is just crazy or maybe he is trying to cheat us to make a
> buck.  Another possibility, albeit remote, is that he is right.  I can't
> even find someone saying he is wrong.  That might be because no one wants to
> waste their time on him.

Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! And we have a winner. Seriously, search for
"James McCanney" on Google, and you don't have to look very far to see
the references to Tesla, the importance of Planet X to Biblical
history, and mathematicans who, having looked just at the Table of
Contents of his book have surmised that it's garbage.

There are obviously mathematicians who are somewhat crazy, but they
are _mathematicians_ first and crazy secondarily. So Goedel was
probably certifiably nuts, but he knew how to write a coherent math
article.

In any case, this story has been out at least a year without any
positive reaction whatever, so I think it's safe to say that it's
plonkable.

jking

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