16-year old German finds solution for 350 year old math problem

Sun 3rd Jun, 2012

Shouryya Ray, a 16-year-old German student from Dresden, has solved a 350 year old puzzle originally proposed by Sir Isaac Newton.

Shouryya, who moved to Dresden from India at age 12 when his father got a job at a technical college, has proposed a solution for two basic problems on particle dynamics theory. First, to accurately predict the trajectory followed by a ball travelling at an angle, and to predict its exact behavior after it bounces against a wall.  Seems simple? Well, apparently not so much, as these two questions have remained unanswered for over three centuries - until now.

"I just asked myself, 'Why not?'" Ray told Germany's Welt Online newspaper. "I didn't believe there couldn't be a solution." Ray also said that his passion for mathematics was inspired by his father, who taught him calculus at the age of six.

His findings won Ray the second place in a Nationwide science competition from the "jugen forscht" (http://jugend-forscht-sachsen.de/2012/teilnehmer/fachgebiet/id/5).
 
 


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