What? Advanced maths is “overthrown” again?

On Wednesday, a report about a self-claimed mathematician "finding the fatal errors of calculus" and "reestablishing a new theory to replace it" created a buzz online. China Daily writer Zhang Zhouxiang comments:

This is not the first time that calculus, a key part of advanced mathematics, has been "overthrown". Actually, ever since calculus as a mathematical method and theory was introduced by Newton and Leibniz in the 1600s, there have been at least 1,000 self-appointed mathematicians who have claimed they have "overthrown" it, although about 90 percent of them do not even know what calculus is.

This time, the "mathematician" is much better than his predecessors.

According to Lei Ting, founder of mathematical popular science website duodaa.com, the reported "mathematician" could at least list a few differential calculus theorems in his essay, which shows he has certain knowledge about math. However, he mixed the basic concepts of calculus, and his essay is more like a publicity product, not a serious academic work.

That's also fundamentally why the "mathematician" publicized his "breakthrough" essay in 2011 but never got recognized. To stay safe, we do not judge whether his essay is right or wrong, but at least there is no mathematician with a formal title who openly expressed having recognized his "theory". Not a single one.

Even under such conditions, there is still no reason to blame or judge the self-appointed "mathematician". It is his right to express his opinions or "theories" about math and he can say anything he wants as long as his words are legal.

However, it is improper for the media outlet to report his "breakthrough" in so one-side way without checking the facts. It is irresponsible for the media outlet to use big, bold headlines "Revolutionary mathematical breakthrough" or "Nobel Prize-level achievements" without the support of any accomplished mathematician.

On Wednesday evening, the report about the incident was republished by a popular news website and got over 2,000 comments, the majority of which pointed out the error of the media outlet. That shows people are clear about the media's role and they trust scientists to decide what a true "breakthrough" is.

Hope the media outlet learns from its own mistake to prevent that from happening again.