>Booker found this odd trio of 16-digit integers by devising a new search algorithm to sift them out of quadrillions of possibilities. The algorithm ran on a university supercomputer for three weeks straight.
So...did he just brute force it?
EDIT: Should've read further down. Looks like, yes:
>But usually, solutions are “nontrivial.” In these cases, the trio of cubed integers — like (114,844,365)³ + (110,902,301)³ + (–142,254,840)³, which equals 26 — looks more like a lottery ticket than anything with predictable structure. For now, the only way for number theorists to discover such solutions is to play the mathematical “lottery” over and over, using the brute force of computer-assisted search to try different combinations of cubed integers, and hope for a “win.”
So...did he just brute force it?
EDIT: Should've read further down. Looks like, yes:
>But usually, solutions are “nontrivial.” In these cases, the trio of cubed integers — like (114,844,365)³ + (110,902,301)³ + (–142,254,840)³, which equals 26 — looks more like a lottery ticket than anything with predictable structure. For now, the only way for number theorists to discover such solutions is to play the mathematical “lottery” over and over, using the brute force of computer-assisted search to try different combinations of cubed integers, and hope for a “win.”