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A 23-year-old with no advanced training solves an Erdős problem in one prompt

development2026-04-27

Claim

Liam Price, a 23-year-old with no advanced mathematical training, used a single GPT-5.4 Pro prompt to crack an Erdős problem that had eluded prominent minds, prompting Terry Tao to observe that humans hit a mental block from making a slight wrong turn at move one.

Reporting date: 2026-04-27 (not necessarily the event date)

Sources

Attribution and reporting linked by this record; links do not imply independent verification.

Welcome to April 27, 2026 (theinnermostloop.substack.com)

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Welcome to April 27, 2026

Actor

Evidence for

Supersedes

A mathematician calls a machine proof one from The Book

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Citation formatCitation text

A 23-year-old with no advanced training solves an Erdős problem in one prompt
Innermost Loop KB — secondary record
Reporting date: 2026-04-27
KB permalink: https://nicholsn.github.io/innermost-loop-kb/developments/2026-04-27-a-23-year-old-cracks-an-erdos-problem-in-one-prompt
Claim: Liam Price, a 23-year-old with no advanced mathematical training, used a single GPT-5.4 Pro prompt to crack an Erdős problem that had eluded prominent minds, prompting Terry Tao to observe that humans hit a mental block from making a slight wrong turn at move one.
Attributed sources:
- Welcome to April 27, 2026 — https://theinnermostloop.substack.com/p/welcome-to-april-27-2026
This citation does not imply independent verification of linked-source claims.

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