Pham Tiep, the Joshua Barlaz Distinguished Professor of Mathematics in the Rutgers School of Arts and Science’s Department of Mathematics, has completed a proof of the 1955 Height Zero Conjecture posed by Richard Brauer, a leading German-American mathematician who died in 1977. Proof of the conjecture – commonly viewed as one of the most outstanding challenges in a field of math known as the representation theory of finite groups – was published in the September issue of the Annals of Mathematics.
“Do you have a preference for dinner or do you want me to handle it?” is like a magic question. It’s so much less pressure than “what do you want for dinner” and potentially turns it into a one person decision. If they say no preference, I’ll follow up with “I’m going to cook ____, does that sound alright?”