Terence Tao: conjectures motivated by "wouldn't it be nice" are almost always wrong
littmath · x · 2026-09-01
Terence Tao (@littmath) quips about a common pattern in mathematics: conjectures whose main evidence is essentially "wouldn't it be nice if such-and-such were true" are basically always wrong — with rare but great exceptions. A reply jokes about the feeling when such a conjecture turns out to be true.
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