There is a diophantine equation in some number (I think the minimum is now 9) of variables, that can be used to represent
- All other diophantine equations (could be wrong on this)
- Any particular set of numbers — such as the primes
So to ask some questions around the consequence of this fact with another fact : the non-existence of a universal procedure for solving any diophantine.
Since no such procedure can exist, am I correct in concluding from these two facts that, at least as represented by a diophantine set, the primes can not be enumerated?
Or is the caveat that, maybe a particular procedure for solving a class or case of diophantine equations, of which the universal one mentioned above could be a member, exists and thus the primes could be enumerated by solving the universal one using such a yet-to-be-discovered specific method.
Also, one final question: Am I right in my feeling that construction of this universal diophantine is not really "adding any new insight" to the area of primes, but simply finding a way to represent some kind of computer or turing machine as a diophantine and program it.
If anyone would be so kind as to offer a simple explanation of the specific method of "programming" this diophantine or the constraints that actually give rise to this "universal" diophantine being able to encode the set of the primes, I would be grateful.
Best Answer
Any Diophantine set can be enumerated, in the sense that there is a procedure that will list any given member of the set after a finite amount of time. In fact, Diophantine sets are precisely those which can be so listed: the recursively enumerable sets.
For the primes and many other Diophantine sets, more is true: the elements can be listed in order, since there are procedures for determining not only existence but also non-existence. These sets are called recursive or decidable.
You are right that finding a Diophantine representation for primes does not add much if anything to the study of primes. It serves, rather, to increase our understanding of Diophantine equations.