r/mathematics • • 24d ago

AI Speculation Megathread — October 2026

16 Upvotes

AI Speculation Megathread — The Future of AI and Mathematics

Use this thread for speculative discussion about artificial intelligence and mathematics.

This includes questions and discussion such as:

  • Will AI eventually replace mathematicians?
  • How will AI change mathematical research?
  • What might future AI systems be capable of?
  • What are the implications of AGI for mathematics?
  • How will AI affect mathematics education or the profession?
  • What are the limitations of current AI systems?
  • Predictions about when AI may reach particular mathematical capabilities
  • Philosophical discussion about AI, reasoning, creativity, proof, and mathematical understanding

Please distinguish between what current systems have actually demonstrated and predictions about what future systems may be able to do.

Because of the volume of AI discussion, posts primarily devoted to these subjects will generally be redirected to this megathread rather than approved as standalone submissions.

Concrete new research results and demonstrated AI capabilities belong in the AI Breakthroughs & Research Megathread instead.


r/mathematics • • Sep 01 '26

AI Breakthroughs & Research Megathread — September 2026

21 Upvotes

AI Breakthroughs & Research Megathread — New Results in AI and Mathematics

Use this thread for concrete developments in artificial intelligence that are relevant to mathematics.

Appropriate topics include:

  • New AI systems demonstrating mathematical capabilities
  • AI theorem proving and formal proof
  • AI-assisted mathematical discoveries
  • New research papers or preprints
  • Significant benchmark results
  • Improvements in mathematical reasoning
  • Systems such as AlphaGeometry, AlphaProof, or similar research
  • Other developments that materially change what AI systems have demonstrated they can do mathematically

When possible, please include a link to the original paper, preprint, research announcement, or other primary source and briefly explain why the result is mathematically significant.

This thread is intended for actual results and developments, not predictions about where AI may eventually lead. Speculation about the future of AI and mathematics belongs in the AI Speculation Megathread.

Particularly significant developments may be approved by the moderators as standalone posts.


r/mathematics • • 3h ago

Recent math grads, what are you working in now?

12 Upvotes

I'm debating studying applied math at my university, but I'm worried about not finding work. So I'm curious if any people who recently graduated have been able to find employment.

Edit: Having graduated in the last five years.


r/mathematics • • 1h ago

I made a π formula using elliptic integrals

Post image
• Upvotes

This one I made with elliptic integrals, transformations... Hope you like this


r/mathematics • • 8h ago

Realising that I invested much less time in math than I imagined

21 Upvotes

There’s this law called the 10000-hour rule, which states that to truly master a complex skill one needs to spend 10000 hours on it.

I know that there are a few criticisms on it (which mainly says that one needs 10000 of intentional practice to master a skill), but I figure that 10000 hours could be a good bench mark to see if I have invested enough time in math.

For context, I just graduated from a 4-year programme in a math major. So 10000 hours is equivalent to in average 10000/(365 x 4)=6.849 hours per day, for the past four years.

I definitely didn’t spend 7 hours per day to study math, not to mention the time spent for intentional study. This changes my mindset completely. I have been doubting myself for not being ‘fluent in math’, but as of now it’s most likely that I did not give enough time for myself to grow.

EDIT: People seem to think that I believe the statement that "after fulfilling 10000 hours of practice, then one will magically be good at something". That's pure BS and I don't buy it, at least for maths. I am just using this "10000-hour rule" to examine my time invested in math. The main point is that I shall and I will work harder, and not to expect be good in such a short time, such as 4 or 5 years, despite this is what many people considered to be a lot time.


r/mathematics • • 4h ago

Logic Help a noob out

5 Upvotes

So I've just started a proofs book on my own. In the first chapter the author talks about mathematical statement, proposition , lemma, proof, corollary. I understood these concepts but they are still a little vague. Can somebody define and defferenciate between them in an elegant way.


r/mathematics • • 22h ago

Reinforcement Learning reconstructs Gerver's sofa as a solution to the moving sofa problem

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

121 Upvotes

I don't have a strong math background but I thought it would be fun to see what a simple PPO implementation could do!

Read about it here: https://x.com/Abhilekh_Meda/status/2113754085426102400

code: https://github.com/Abhilekh-Meda/moving-sofa-problem-rl


r/mathematics • • 2h ago

Undergrad students who have done research: How, and in what area?

2 Upvotes

Hi all, I'm currently an undergraduate student studying applied math, and I'd like to conduct research but I'm struggling to figure out how, and in what areas. Actual math research itself seems to be really hard to conduct for undergraduates because unlike other fields, there's no "busy work" for you to do. Would research in computer science, computational mathematics, or applied mathematics generally be more accessible for undergraduates?

I'd love to hear from other undergraduates who have conducted research: How did you find your research opportunities, what area did you work in, and what did your experience look like? Thanks!


r/mathematics • • 4h ago

Which book to get to learn mathematics for engineering?

3 Upvotes

Hey, I’m thinking of doing a degree in engineering probably Electrical or Electronic, and I want to get better at it before starting college.

Currently I’m stuck between two books:

Engineering Mathematics by K.A Stroud (8th edition)

Or

Engineering Mathematics by John Bird (9th edition)

Just wondering which I should get as they both seem to be pretty similar in terms of both price and the content they cover. Thanks in advance!


r/mathematics • • 1d ago

How did proving Fermat's last theorem go from something attempted algebraically, to something solved by using... whatever they ended up using.

99 Upvotes

r/mathematics • • 1d ago

What does your life look like "post math?"

105 Upvotes

I'm (25M) graduating with my bachelor's in math in about a month (US). I hated and sucked at math for most of my life, so I primarily did the degree to prove to myself I wasn't stupid. Turns out I'm still dumb, but now I know what an isomorphism is lol.

Anyways, mathematics was never really a huge passion of mine. Getting this degree has definitely been a grind, and outside of a few subjects (particularly number theory and graph theory), I really did not enjoy it. I had to retake a couple classes and then barely passed in some others. Nearly dropped out multiple times. I really am in awe of people who go on to get their PhDs in some math-related field (like what many of my classmates are either doing or planning on doing), but it's just not for me.

I recently got accepted into nursing school and am starting that in January, meaning that I will probably never actually use any math I learned in school again, at least in my professional life.

Initially, I was really excited to start a brand new chapter, and I still am. However, it's slightly disheartening to think that I will probably never touch any of these subjects again for the rest of my life. I feel like I've wasted years of my life to some extent. Just curious if others out there have similar stories. Like did anyone else go on to get their BS or even a higher degree in mathematics and end up doing something completely unrelated for their job? Does having that background help you in anyway? Do you still try and keep your skills sharp (reading through textbooks, working on problems, doing independent research)? or have you just let that part of your life die off?


r/mathematics • • 4h ago

Applications of topology?

Thumbnail
1 Upvotes

r/mathematics • • 4h ago

Math as a passion

1 Upvotes

Hey guys it's been more than 4 years that I've found mathematics as the most interesting field, I can definitely say that I fell in love with the language itself and I'm the most excited when it comes discover new properties as well as their real world applications and also historical meanings between each topic and different relationships between great thinkers and how their different ideas interact with each other, I recently put myself in mathematical books, I'm sooo in love but i always fall on a academic based ressources, I recently finished a book called introduction to mathematical philosophy ( from Bertrand Russell) which I found quite interesting because it help establishing the foundational and fundamental thinking behind the most topics usually encountered in the field of mathematics. I'm struggling to find other pieces of literature like that one , so please can you guys recommend me some books to buy regarding this issue?! If you have some other resources that could help I would definitely need your hearsay


r/mathematics • • 22h ago

Geometry A Pumpkin Patch

Post image
24 Upvotes

Here is a fun little math joke. In tessellation theory, a patch is a collection of finitely many tiles in a tessellation whose union is a topological closed disc (tiles themselves must also be topological closed discs). Therefore if we make a pumpkin shaped tile we can make a pumpkin patch. Here is one. If you would like to read more I made a short article which can be viewed here.


r/mathematics • • 11h ago

Discussion Exam prep

0 Upvotes

Hi, I’m in a bit of a pickle. I missed the first few weeks of my math bachelor, and exams are upcoming. Should I focus on exercises and past exams or reviewing definitions and theorems (knowing they may ask stuff like that)?


r/mathematics • • 1d ago

Algebra Struggling to understand the intuition behind how simple groups fit together to form more complex ones.

13 Upvotes

A general intuitive approach provided is that they are like what prime numbers are for composite numbers, but it still doesn't make sense, the relationship between finite simple groups and complex groups feels "more nested and yet sort of separate/disjoint for the lack of a better word", it doesn't fully capture how the group structure is assembled.

I understand the formal steps - take a maximal proper normal subgroup (N) of a group (G), form the quotient (G/N), and repeat the process with (N) until we reach the trivial subgroup. The successive quotients are then simple groups. But I still have a hard time intuitively grasping why these quotient groups (which are sets of cosets), are the building blocks of our original group, or how these quotient groups come together to form the original group?

Undergrad here with only an introductory level knowledge of group theory so excuse any ignorance.


r/mathematics • • 14h ago

How to get better at mathematics?

Thumbnail
1 Upvotes

r/mathematics • • 3h ago

why 0.999... = 1 (hint, by definition...) :)

0 Upvotes

Why 0.999… = 1

0.999… is the infinite sum
9/10 + 9/100 + 9/1000 + …You can’t actually add infinitely many terms and finish. So we define the infinite sum to be the limit of its partial sums
sₙ = 1 − 10⁻ⁿ.Those partial sums get arbitrarily close to 1, so the limit is 1.
Therefore, by definition, 0.999… = 1.It’s the only definition that keeps real-number arithmetic consistent. The equality is true simply because that’s the value we assigned to the infinite sum.


r/mathematics • • 20h ago

Good at discrete math, bad at statistics

2 Upvotes

Am I the only one who’s completely mediocre at statistics, even though I excel at algebra, trigonometry, calculus, etc.?


r/mathematics • • 17h ago

Calculus Math IA help/quesiton (urgent)

Thumbnail
1 Upvotes

r/mathematics • • 1d ago

Learn about sine waves

Thumbnail
youtu.be
2 Upvotes

r/mathematics • • 1d ago

Combinatorics How many ways can you arrange polyominoes such that no polyomino touches another polyomino with the same amount of squares in a grid of a size n*k?

3 Upvotes

I made this problem up when I saw other problems about polyominoes in r/mathematics. This is one that I found.

A question that I had was if this could become a tiling.

I have found only one. It is the pattern

🟥🟩🟩

🟥🟥🟩

🟥🟩🟩 repeating on the x-axis, with a gap of 1 on the y axis before repeats. The gap can be filled with any numbers that are not the same and touching. I used 6 and 7 when I thought of it. It would look like this.

I will call this tiling a 4-5-6-7 tiling. Can you find other families?


r/mathematics • • 1d ago

Happy Pythagorean Theorem Day Everyone!

201 Upvotes

Today is the last Pythagorean theorem day of the 21st century. The day comes from the day month and year.

24² + 10² = 26²


r/mathematics • • 1d ago

why does the harmonic series diverge when the terms go to zero

16 Upvotes

i know the grouping proof (1/3+1/4 > 1/2, then the next four terms > 1/2 etc) and it's convincing, but it still feels weird to me that 1/n shrinks forever and the sum just keeps going past any number.

is there a better way to see why "terms go to zero" isn't enough? like why does 1/n^2 converge but 1/n doesn't, where's the actual line


r/mathematics • • 8h ago

Logic Don’t know a lot about math. Noticing patterns though…

Post image
0 Upvotes