The Caltech Mathathon: A Pioneer Event for Research-Grade Mathematics

Caltech is hosting a groundbreaking event: a 40-hour sprint equipped with over $2,000,000 in AI credits, all aimed at cracking open mathematical problems.

The Catalyst: AI's Recent Mathematical Surge

In recent months, artificial intelligence has achieved unprecedented milestones in the realm of pure mathematics. The traditional timeline of discovery has been slowly incremental radically accelerated.

Recent Breakthroughs

These leaps forward lead us to two critical inquiries:

(a) To what extent can AI compress the timeline between the initial ideation and a peer-reviewed publication?

(b) What is the evolving identity and purpose of the mathematician in an era where AI can resolve conjectures with superior speed?

Event Architecture

We are gathering the world's most elite mathematical minds to explore these questions. The event structure is as follows:

1. The Sprint: 100 selected teams will utilize frontier models to develop new theories and solve existing conjectures.
2. The Defense: Teams must present and justify their findings to a panel of distinguished mathematicians to prove their conceptual grasp.
3. The Rewards:
   • Immediate: Prizes for the most compelling and clearly articulated results.
   • Deferred: A second tier of awards granted after the broader math community verifies the proofs.

Workflow Visualization

Example AI Interaction

Teams might use a prompt structure similar to this:

def solve_conjecture(problem_statement):
    model = load_frontier_model("math-specialist-v1")
    proof = model.generate_proof(problem_statement, rigor="absolute")
    return proof

Logistics & Participation

Location: California Institute of Technology
Dates: October 30th $\rightarrow$ November 1st

Next Steps for Applicants

• Submit Application
• Contact Organizers for queries
• Review the Responsible AI Use commitments

Whether it is analyzing the properties of $\mathbb{R}^n$ or exploring group theory, this will be the first-ever hackathon dedicated specifically to research-level mathematics.