Terence Tao-backed Caltech Mathathon redesigns around AI-assisted math understanding
AnimaAnandkumar · x · 2026-09-29
Caltech and SAIR, co-founded by Terence Tao, announced a redesigned Mathathon themed "Old Problems, New Proofs." The event asks how AI can augment human mathematical understanding: participants pick a problem with an unintuitive or contested proof (four color theorem, ABC conjecture, Navier-Stokes), spend 40 hours studying it, and present their findings. The organizers argue mathematical understanding and exposition are undervalued by grantmakers and hiring committees.
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