Speaking of the transcendental, several readers have sent me this. It is, or may be, a breakthrough on the long road to cracking the Riemann Hypothesis.

A new mathematical object was revealed yesterday during a lecture at the American Institute of Mathematics (AIM). Two researchers from the University of Bristol exhibited the first example of a third degree transcendental L-function. These L-functions encode deep underlying connections between many different areas of mathematics … The Riemann zeta-function is the grand-daddy of all L-functions. It holds the secret to how the prime numbers are distributed …

“But what is a third degree transcendental L-function?” these readers are asking me. Glad to have the opportunity to explain.

A third degree transcendental L-function is one degree beyond a second degree transcendental L-function.

All clear on that?