This Inmate Used Solitary Confinement to Learn Math. Now He's Solving the World's Hardest Equations

Plus more stories from Pop Mech Pro [View in Browser]( [Image]( [Alternate text] KORY KENNEDY This Inmate Used Solitary Confinement to Learn Math. Now He's Solving the World's Hardest Equations In 2010, Christopher Havens was sentenced to 25 years for murder. In 2020, his work in number theory was published in an academic journal. BY: The walls of the cell where Christopher Havens was serving a 25-year murder sentence were covered in notebook paper. The sheets filled with numeric and Greek scratchings had quickly overwhelmed his modest desk and were now forming a patchwork wallpaper that spread from that corner and began to wrap around the 8x12 room. The neatly nesting equations of the continued fractions guiding his chase could run on for 15 feet as he hunted for patterns that might offer a clue. Some pages were complete nonsense, grasps into the unknown with whatever method appeared to him. Other pages made progress. They showed promise in his self-taught number theory education. Though Havens didn’t know this yet. He also didn’t know his problem didn’t have an answer. Guards and other inmates would do double-takes as they passed. He looked like a freak, but that didn’t matter anymore. He was getting somewhere. He was leaning into sticking out. Fitting in had gotten him into prison in the first place. This is a free preview of Pop Mech Pro. Join now for less than $1 a week to read the rest of the story and more of Popular Mechanics' most in-depth, exclusive features. [JOIN NOW]( MORE FROM POP MECH PRO MATH [READ NOW]( The Amazing Math Inside the Rubik’s Cube TECH [READ NOW]( How the Only Successful Alcatraz Prison Break was from the Pages of Popular Mechanics HOME [READ NOW]( Make This All-Metal Toolbox Follow Us [Unsubscribe]( [Privacy Notice]( PopularMechanics.com ©2021 Hearst Communications Inc. All Rights Reserved. Hearst Email Privacy, 300 W 57th St., Fl. 19 (sta 1-1), New York, NY 10019