GoKawiilGrant Sanderson urges math community to reward explanation, not just proofs
In a guest post, 3Blue1Brown creator Grant Sanderson argues that as AI systems become capable of generating proofs without genuine understanding, mathematicians should formalize and reward 'motivated explanations' as academic work on par with solving open problems. He contends this shift would better reflect what mathematicians actually contribute beyond just producing correct proofs.
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As AI tools increasingly automate proof generation, the value mathematicians add is shifting toward intuition, clarity and conceptual understanding rather than raw problem-solving. If academia doesn't formally recognize and reward explanatory work, the field risks both losing incentive structures for that labor and reinforcing public misconceptions that AI is making mathematicians redundant.
- Sanderson proposes giving 'motivated explanations' academic credit similar to solving open problems.
- He argues proofs have long served as an imperfect proxy for deeper human understanding in math.
- His suggestion stems partly from his own career making math videos outside traditional academia.
3Blue1Brown 'Essence of Math' Notebook — If you're chewing on ideas about mathematical understanding versus mechanical proof, a good notebook is where those intuitions actually get sketched out. A grid-paper notebook gives you room to doodle diagrams and motivated explanations, the very kind of insight this article says deserves more credit.
See 3Blue1Brown 'Essence of Math' Notebook on Amazon → Affiliate link — we may earn a commission on purchases, at no extra cost to you. Product picked by AI based on this article; it is not a tested recommendation.Source: terrytao.wordpress.com — Terence Tao, 2026-09-19
Published there as: “If math is more than proof, we need to better celebrate the rest of it”
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