Re:An OpenAI model has disproved a central conjecture in dis...
by Al-Khwarizmi on Wednesday May 20, 2026 @03:50PM
(#48213153)
Indeed, it's a pity. While many advanced math problems are highly abstract or convoluted to explain to a layman audience, this one in particular is about points in a 2D plane and distances. A drawing would have been nice.
Re:An OpenAI model has disproved a central conjecture in dis...
by changoplatanero on Wednesday May 20, 2026 @03:58PM
(#48213265)
apparently the proof is not constructive in the sense of not giving an easy to compute recipe for generating a set of points that you can plot on a 2d plane
- It does not show an example of the new best solution, nor explain why they couldn't show an example (e.g. if the proof was not constructive)
- It does not even explain the previous best solution. The diagram of the rescaled unit grid doesn't indicate what the "points" are beyond the normal non-scaled unit grid. I have no idea what to take away from it.
- It's description of the new proof just cites some terms of art with no effort made to actually explain the result.
If this post were not on the OpenAI blog, I would assume it was slop. I understand advanced pure mathematics is complicated, but it is entirely possible to explain complicated topics to non-experts.