By Alex Wilkins
Publication Date: 2026-01-16 15:24:00
AI tools help decode long-standing mathematical problems
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Amateur mathematicians are using artificial intelligence chatbots to solve long-standing problems – a move that has surprised experts. Although the problems in question are not the most advanced in the mathematical canon, the success of AI models in tackling these problems shows that their mathematical prowess has crossed a significant threshold, researchers say, and could fundamentally change the way we do mathematics.
The questions solved by AI come from Hungarian mathematician Paul Erdős, who was known for his ability to ask useful but difficult questions throughout his career spanning over six decades. “The questions were generally very simple but very difficult,” says Thomas Bloom from the University of Manchester, UK.
By the time of his death in 1996, there were more than 1000 of these unsolved Erdős problems, covering a wide range of mathematical disciplines, from…
