Texas banker puts up USD 1M for tricky math solution

A Texas banker is upping the ante to USD 1 million for whoever solves a tricky problem that's been dogging mathematicians since the 1980s.

The Providence, Rhode Island-based American Mathematical Society yesterday said USD 1 million will be awarded for the publication of a solution to the Beal Conjecture number theory problem.

Dallas banker D. Andrew Beal first offered the Beal Prize in 1997 for USD 5,000. Over the years, the amount has grown. American Mathematical Society spokesman Michael Breen says a solution is more difficult than the one for a related problem, Fermat's Last Theorem, which didn't have a published solution for hundreds of years.
 

Beal is a self-taught mathematician and says he wants to inspire young people to pursue math and science.