{"schema":"postcutoff/event@1","as_of":"2026-10-20T02:15:00+02:00","url":"https://postcutoff.com/e/2026-07-22-shouqiao-wang-six-erdos-problems-gpt-5-6-sol-codex/","md":"https://postcutoff.com/e/2026-07-22-shouqiao-wang-six-erdos-problems-gpt-5-6-sol-codex/index.md","disclosure":{"written_by":"AI agents (Claude Opus 5.5 in Claude Code)","editor":"human editor","policy":"https://postcutoff.com/about/"},"license":null,"id":"2026-07-22-shouqiao-wang-six-erdos-problems-gpt-5-6-sol-codex","date":"2026-07-22","date_precision":"day","short_title":"Columbia PhD student Shouqiao Wang says he solved six open Erdős problems in five days with GPT-5.6 Sol in Codex, and publishes his workflow","deck":null,"takeaway":"On 22 July 2026 Shouqiao Wang, a Columbia PhD candidate, posted \"I solved 6 open Erdős problems in 5 days, using @OpenAI GPT-5.6 Sol\", with a thread giving his Codex workflow and prompts.","category":"science","category_label":"Science & math","importance":3,"confidence":"medium","status":{"key":"pending","labels":["Awaiting review"]},"sources":[{"n":1,"title":"36Kr: GPT-5.6 disproves 30-year graph theory conjecture; Peking University alumnus solves six Erdős problems in five days (24 July)","url":"https://eu.36kr.com/en/p/3908956256605577","type":"press","group":"press","domain":"eu.36kr.com"},{"n":2,"title":"Shouqiao Wang on X: I solved 6 open Erdős problems in 5 days (22 July 2026)","url":"https://x.com/Qiaoqiao2001/status/2080003441821163958","type":"discussion","group":"reactions","domain":"x.com"}],"official":0,"filed":"2026-10-19","updated":"2026-10-19","orgs":["OpenAI","Columbia University"],"title":"Columbia PhD student Shouqiao Wang says he solved six open Erdős problems in five days with GPT-5.6 Sol in Codex, and publishes his workflow","summary":"On 22 July 2026 Shouqiao Wang, a Columbia PhD candidate, posted \"I solved 6 open Erdős problems in 5 days, using @OpenAI GPT-5.6 Sol\", with a thread giving his Codex workflow and prompts. Coverage says he tried about 13 problems (46% success), one run lasting 32 hours. The post had ~1.6M views. We have not identified the problem numbers or any independent verification.","key_facts":["Wang on X (22 July 2026, ~1.59M views by Oct 19, fxtwitter): 'I solved 6 open Erdős problems in 5 days, using @OpenAI GPT-5.6 Sol. I have a math background, but the Codex workflow I used does not require deep mathematical knowledge. Here's exactly how I approached it, including my prompts'","Per 36Kr (24 July): about 13 problems attempted, 46% success rate; one problem ran continuously for 32 hours; process of attempt, diagnosis, draft proof and adversarial audit; one solved problem was a topic Terence Tao had previously studied (no Tao statement quoted)","Method (per coverage of his thread): pick problems mathematicians already discuss, define in advance what counts as a complete solution, list weaker results and trap cases up front, then run multi-hour searches for counterexamples before drafting proofs","Not established: which Erdős problem numbers, whether erdosproblems.com marked them solved, and any expert review; the thread replies were not read (fxtwitter returns only the first post)"],"key_numbers":[],"tags":["math","erdos-problems","codex","gpt-5-6","workflow","ai-assisted-proof"],"science":{"field":"mathematics","subfield":"combinatorics / number theory (Erdős problems)","problem":"Six open problems from the Erdős problems collection (numbers not identified)","result":"Claimed solutions to six open Erdős problems in five days out of about 13 attempted.","open_since":"","ai_system":["GPT-5.6 Sol","Codex"],"human_role":"Wang chose problems, wrote the prompts and acceptance criteria and audited outputs; GPT-5.6 Sol in Codex did the long searches and drafts","verification":{"key":"expert","label":"Expert-checked","text":"Unverified claim (X thread); no database update or expert check found"},"status":"pending","shock":"","short":"Six Erdős problems in five days","verified_by":["unverified"]},"body_md":"## What happened\n\nWang posted his result and a step-by-step thread on how he drove GPT-5.6 Sol through Codex on Erdős problems. The thread drew wide attention\nfor its claim that the workflow needs little mathematical expertise. We read only the first post (fxtwitter) and 36Kr's summary.\n\n## Why it matters\n\nIt is an early public recipe for turning a coding agent into a problem-solving loop on open maths problems, published months before the\nErdős-problem wave of September–October 2026. Its claims still need checking against erdosproblems.com.","disputed":[{"label":"Verification","text":"Unverified claim (X thread); no database update or expert check found","sources":[]}],"related":[{"id":"2026-09-27-erdos-993-forest-independence-polynomials-unimodal","url":"https://postcutoff.com/e/2026-09-27-erdos-993-forest-independence-polynomials-unimodal/","date":"2026-09-27","date_precision":"day","short_title":"Erdős Problem #993 (1987)","deck":"Independent-set sequences of all forests claimed unimodal; a second proof and its Lean 4 formalization are attributed entirely to AI agents (Zhang, Li, Vallier)","takeaway":"A 1987 question of Alavi, Malde, Schwenk and Erdős asks whether the numbers of independent sets of each size in a tree or forest always rise and then fall. Tong Zhang and Wei Li claimed a computer-assisted proof on 27 Sept 2026 with help from GPT-6 Astra. A second proof (arXiv, 6 Oct) says AI systems produced all of its new mathematics, its Lean proof and most of its text.","category":"science","category_label":"Science & math","importance":4,"confidence":"medium","status":{"key":"pending","labels":["Awaiting review"]},"sources":6,"official":4,"filed":"2026-10-13","updated":"2026-10-16","orgs":["Northwestern Polytechnical University","University of Toledo","OpenAI","Anthropic"]},{"id":"2026-07-22-dinitz-garg-goemans-conjecture-disproved-gpt-5-6-pro","url":"https://postcutoff.com/e/2026-07-22-dinitz-garg-goemans-conjecture-disproved-gpt-5-6-pro/","date":"2026-07-22","date_precision":"day","short_title":"Dmitry Rybin posts a GPT-5.6 Pro counterexample to the ~30-year-old Dinitz–Garg–Goemans (Goemans cost) conjecture on unsplittable flows","deck":null,"takeaway":null,"category":"science","category_label":"Science & math","importance":3,"confidence":"medium","status":{"key":"pending","labels":["Awaiting review"]},"sources":4,"official":0,"filed":"2026-10-19","updated":"2026-10-19","orgs":["OpenAI"]}],"people":[{"id":"terence-tao","name":"Terence Tao","url":"https://postcutoff.com/person/terence-tao/"}],"posts":[{"id":"x-qiaoqiao2001-2080003441821163958","title":"“I solved 6 open Erdős problems in 5 days, using @OpenAI GPT-5.6 Sol. I have a math…”","url":"https://postcutoff.com/p/x-qiaoqiao2001-2080003441821163958/"}],"videos":[],"models":[],"changes":[{"date":"2026-10-19","type":"filed","text":"Created. Late from the 2026-10-19 lead (Fireship video); X post read via fxtwitter"}],"provenance":{"agents":[{"model":"Claude Opus 5.5","maker":"Anthropic","tool":"Claude Code"}],"filed":"2026-10-19","run":null,"sources_read":"Late from the 2026-10-19 lead (Fireship video); X post read via fxtwitter","updated":"2026-10-19","human_review":null,"version":{"date":"2026-10-19"}},"gaps":[{"model_id":"gpt-6-astra","name":"GPT-6 Astra","cutoff":"2026-04","days_after":83,"in_training_data":false},{"model_id":"claude-opus-5-5","name":"Claude Opus 5.5","cutoff":"2026-06","days_after":22,"in_training_data":false},{"model_id":"gemini-4-argon","name":"Gemini 4 Argon","cutoff":"2026-03","days_after":113,"in_training_data":false},{"model_id":"grok-4-7","name":"Grok 4.7","cutoff":"2026-05","days_after":52,"in_training_data":false}],"short_url":null}