Famous Theories
From a theory of incompleteness to how to pack spheres in a box: this week we feature ten of the most famous theories in modern history.
Created by Tormod Guldvog
Last updated September 14 2001
Most of us have heard about these theories, or at least some of them. But although they may be famous, they are not necessarily easy to understand.
Take Kepler's Conjecture, for example. It simply states that there is an ultimate way to pack spheres into a box. It has taken centuries of experiments and calculations to show that there are in fact an endless number of ways to do it - and scientists have yet to prove that there is one way which is better than the others.
Another great idea is Drake's Equation, which is meant to show that there is a good possibility that there are aliens out there. It is perhaps the least scientific of all the ideas we feature below, but it is also much easier to understand than the rest.
Not to mention Fermat's Last Theorem, of course, which haunted mathematicians for ages until it was finally proven in the 1990s.
If you would like to suggest further theories for this list, feel free to tell the editor!
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Fermat's last theorem
A presentation of one of the most famous theorems ever solved.¤
Review: Tormod | link detailsNumber theoryThe Equivalence of Mass and Energy
ThinkQuest has a page which shows how Einstein derived his famous equation e=mc2.¤
Review: Tormod | link detailsNumber theoryContinuum Hypothesis
A detailed presentation of the continuum hypothesis, which implies that there is an endless amount of real numbers in the world.
Review: Lucid | link detailsNumber theoryThe Kepler Conjecture
This is the classic problem of packing spheres into a box, a problem which recently was claimed to have been solved.¤
Review: Tormod | link detailsNumber theoryNewton's Universal Law of Gravitation
This is one of the fundamental laws of modern mathematics. It describes the forces bodies exert upon each other, that is, how gravity works.¤
Review: Tormod | link detailsNumber theoryFaraday's Law of Induction
Faraday's law describes how an electric field can be induced by a changing magnetic flux. ¤
Review: Tormod | link detailsNumber theoryEntropy
The equation for entropy, or the amount of disorder in a system, was formulated by the German physicist Rudolf Clausius in 1850.¤
Review: Tormod | link detailsNumber theoryBernoulli's Equation
This equation is used to calculate fluid dynamics, that is, the motion, turbulence, pressure, and flow, of fluids.¤
Review: Tormod | link detailsNumber theoryThe Drake Equation
This equation is an attempt to show the probability for life in the Universe.¤
Review: Tormod | link detailsNumber theoryGodel on the net
This is a collection of comments on various aspects of Godel's incompleteness theorem.
Review: Tormod | link detailsNumber theory