[FOM] Devlin on incorrect proofs

[JoeShipman@aol.com]

Keith Devlin, in his monthly column on the MAA website, discusses the recently withdrawn proof that the lim inf of the ratio of the smallest gap between primes above N to log N is 0.  I propose that the FOM list read and discuss this paper, because I find Devlin's insouciance to the phenomonon of incorrect published proofs (his essay is ironically titled  "The shame of it") quite striking.  

The URL  is 

http://www.maa.org/devlin/devlin_05_03.html

-- Joe Shipman