First complete Lean proof of optimality for Bidwell's 17-square packing, built with AI
tak3sh8 · x · 2026-10-14
Oscar Fitzhardinge released the first complete Lean proof of optimality for Bidwell's 1998 packing of 17 squares — proving no smaller square suffices (s(17) = 4.67553009...). The proof was built with OpenAI's Astra and Anthropic's Opus 5.5, with credit to prior work by Manasseh and ojoshe. Code is open-sourced at github.com/ofitzharding/sq17-lean, another data point for AI-assisted formal mathematics.
Related event: AI Helps Deliver First Complete Lean Proof of 17-Square Packing Optimality(2 posts)→
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