By Richie Sater

I didn't expect Viktor Monakhov to write back.

Viktor is a prominent Belarusian mathematician who's been publishing papers since before I was born. His entries in the Kourovka Notebook have for decades driven modern algebraic research. The Kourovka Notebook is a world-renowned collection in mathematics where group theorists send their hardest questions, the ones that keep them up at night, and wait for someone, anyone, to solve them.

In 1986, Viktor put "Problem 10.34" into the Kourovka notebook. A couple weeks ago I sent him an email letting him know I'd solved it. After 40 years, the problem that had outlasted a generation of mathematicians finally had a proposed solution. But there is one issue: I can't do group theory.

My name is Richie Sater and by training I am a CPA; an accountant. I don't have a math degree. I have never taken a class in group theory.…