Math prof. Author of long-form textbooks on proofs (amzn.to/3oZrMNu), real analysis (amzn.to/2kjvMwh) & math history (a.co/d/8pLSo0C).

Sacramento, CA
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Jay Cummings retweeted
I was part of a group that met last week to try to propose recommended changes to the structure of math PhD programs in an age of AI. Our report, together with a collection of related resources, is now available here: cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/aimathp…
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I was invited to be an editor to this book and I was happy to contribute to this edition. This is the type of writing that can not be automated, because it has soul in it.
Look what arrived today. Wanted to read this for a while. @LongFormMath
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You were fantastic!
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A few weeks ago I came across this too. I spent a week going through it writing my own version of Astra’s proof. First takeaway: It was fun! Very cool theorem, and quite enjoyable to wade through Astra’s (imo not great) proof and find a version that I like. It was also a good exercise in what lots of future math scholarly work might look and feel like. I plan to put out a YouTube video of it next week.
A few weeks ago Astra gave a stunningly simple proof of the Erdős-Sós conjecture in graph theory (previously thought to be very difficult). It has been a good example of how the lifecycle of AI proofs should be: after the AI formalisation posted at erdosproblems.com/548 1/
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Jay Cummings retweeted
Look what arrived today. Wanted to read this for a while. @LongFormMath
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Replying to @AstroRonin
I hope you enjoy it!
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Jay Cummings retweeted
Breaking math news: The first-ever 3D Einstein tile, an object that tiles space in a never-repeating pattern, has been found by independent researcher Ioannis Tsiokos using GPT Astra. Resembles a chair. Mathematicians have de-slopped the proof. @kkakaes: quantamagazine.org/updates/t…
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Replying to @DJWebbMath
Plot Twist: that’s one of the 100 theorems.
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Each paper is converted to a numeric code. Each paper’s coded text must appear somewhere in the digits of pi. Just need to know which digit position to start reading. To learn that position, mathematicians have to solve a sequence of riddles. This is where MrBeast comes in. The riddles are hidden inside 100 locked safes scattered across math department libraries around world. To get into each safe, a top mathematician needs a solve a basic arithmetic problem in less than 10 seconds while standing at the front of a lecture hall being watched by all their colleagues. Only 20 tries and then you’re locked out forever. Once inside, you get the riddle, right? Wrong. This is when Stage 2 begins.
This advisory group created by IAS is advising OpenAI in how to release their math results Mathematicians can give their opinion in this link agmai.org I share publicly my opinion below (more than happy to have debate / disagreements in the responses!)
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Decades worth of “progress” can now be accomplished in 3 weeks using a single model. The era of theorem abundance is here.
We’re working with an independent advisory group of mathematicians to help OpenAI responsibly share advances in AI and mathematics. The group will advise on how we assess and communicate new mathematical results, uphold academic and professional standards, and build tools that support mathematical research and learning. Through this work, we want mathematicians to be at the center of shaping how AI supports mathematical understanding and how its benefits reach the wider community. openai.com/index/advisory-gr…
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The Bernoullis were more than a family of mathematicians; they formed a remarkable mathematical dynasty. Across several generations, Jacob, Johann, Daniel, and others made important contributions to mathematics and mathematical physics during the 17th and 18th centuries, alongside figures such as Newton, Leibniz, and Euler. Their story also includes one of the most famous rivalries in mathematical history. Jacob and Johann initially collaborated in studying Leibniz’s calculus, but their relationship gradually deteriorated into a bitter and very public competition, with the brothers challenging and criticizing each other over mathematical problems and priority. Whether this rivalry actually fueled their achievements is difficult to establish. What is clear is that their intense competition existed alongside work of lasting importance, and their family became one of the most influential mathematical lineages in early modern Europe.
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Replying to @mathandcobb
Can’t wait!
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Replying to @GolinoHudson
He’d be at a top school that wouldn’t care about his teaching quality. He’d be just fine
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Replying to @ATCarrMath
For being able to understand them and undoubtably getting a great lecture: Von Neumann. For the sheer thrill of seeing them: very hard choice but I’ll choose Archimedes.
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Replying to @mathandcobb
Ummm I forget where I read it but it’s likely in Gleick’s excellent book on him :-)
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Don’t pick Newton. As a professor at Cambridge he was required to give periodic lectures but he was so bad at it that often not a single person would show up. (Being a man of honor, he would lecture anyways—to an empty room.)
If you could attend a lecture by any mathematician, living or historical, whom would you choose?
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Watching AI agents have all the fun
HOLY MOTHER OF MATHEMATICS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Google is working on a math-focused variant of its DeepThink model, and its raw thoughts are pretty funny.
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Around 12 years ago I asked Ron Graham who he thought was the greatest living mathematician. He said, "Well most people would say Tao, and he very well might be, but I'll say Serre."
Jean-Pierre Serre turns 100. Youngest Fields Medalist ever: 27. First Abel Prize laureate: 2003. and still editing Wikipedia.
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If the math profession collapses, I would be depressed enough that I might actually read his novels
JUST IN: Chinese Fields Medal winner Deng Yu announces he’ll retire from mathematics & write romance novels if AI becomes capable of solving all math problems.
Community note
Deng Yu joked on social media that he would write his yuri novel if AI solved all math problems and clarified it was not serious; the post inaccurately frames this as an announcement of retirement and uses "romance novels" for the specific yuri genre of lesbian fiction. scmp.com/news/china/sci… en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yu_Den
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