Old mathematical challenges: Precedents to the millennium problems

Abstract

The Millennium Problems set out by the Clay Mathematics Institute became a stimulus for mathematical research. The aim of this article is to highlight some previous challenges that were also a stimulus to finding proof for some interesting results. With this pretext, we present three moments in the history of mathematics that were important for the development of new lines of research. We briefly analyse the Tartaglia challenge, which brought about the discovery of a formula for third degree equations; Johan Bernoulli’s problem of the curve of fastest descent, which originated the calculus of variations; and the incidence of the problems posed by David Hilbert in 1900, focusing on the first problem in the list: the continuum hypothesis.