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Smale's problems
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<p>Smale's problems is a list of eighteen <a href="/facts/Unsolved_problems_in_mathematics/RroxGPpP">unsolved problems in mathematics</a> proposed by <a href="/facts/Stephen_Smale/vtMg3cAF">Steve Smale</a> in 1998 and republished in 1999. Smale composed this list in reply to a request from <a href="/facts/Vladimir_Arnold/IMBhyfMS">Vladimir Arnold</a>, then vice-president of the <a href="/facts/International_Mathematical_Union/lWpydMNv">International Mathematical Union</a>, who asked several mathematicians to propose a list of problems for the 21st century. Arnold's inspiration came from the list of <a href="/facts/Hilbert%2527s_problems/HaQWIxvV">Hilbert's problems</a> that had been published at the beginning of the 20th century. </p>