TITLE: What should an amateur do with a proof of an open problem?
QUESTION [62 upvotes]: Assuming that somebody is not an employee of a university, just a math amateur, and makes a proper proof of some well known open math problem, what should he do with it? Publish on the internet for verification or send to some authorities? Is there a high risk that nobody will treat it seriously?

REPLY [4 votes]: If you have solved an open problem and can monetize it then this question is easy.  For example, consider factorization.
If you really developed an algorithm for efficiently factoring large numbers, you could write a paper in latex describing your algorithm and proving its correctness.  You could send that paper to me.  It is likely I will not understand your paper and nothing will happen.  You could send it to leading researchers in the field and they will probably think you are a crank and not read your paper and nothing will happen.
Or you could try some of the RSA challenges.  Collect a bunch of prizes and likely people will be coming to you asking you questions.