Applied mathematicians Steven Strogatz and Alex Townsend have co-authored 'Big Math: The Hidden Codes That Run Our World,' examining how large language models and emerging quantum computing are pushing mathematics beyond what human mathematicians can independently verify or understand. The book grew out of lunchtime conversations at Cornell, where Strogatz mentored Townsend, and builds on Townsend's course covering the top algorithms of the 20th century.
arstechnica.com
· 2026-11-10
A review discusses 'Big Math: The Hidden Codes That Run Our World' by Steven Strogatz and Alex Townsend, which explores how mathematical techniques like the Fourier transform underpin technologies from radio signals to machine learning. The book opens with computer scientist Regina Barzilay's work developing a breast-cancer risk prediction model using machine learning after her own cancer treatment in 2014.
nature.com
· 2026-11-09
OpenAI reportedly published hundreds of mathematical proofs over recent months covering number theory, theoretical computer science and logic, some addressing problems unsolved for decades or centuries. Fields Medalist Hugo Duminil-Copin said the work left him crying and feeling his field had been 'annihilated,' while Cornell's Steven Strogatz described mathematicians using phrases like 'strip-mining our subject' to capture their shock.
derekthompson.org
· 2026-10-15
OpenAI announced its AI agents helped solve a 90-year-old math problem carrying a $1 million prize, building on work by mathematicians Diego Córdoba and Luis Martínez-Zoroa, though the solution still requires independent verification. Mathematician Tristan Buckmaster alleges OpenAI rushed to publish after learning of his own unpublished work with Anthropic researcher Levent Alpöge, and tried to shape who received credit. The dispute follows Anthropic's recent claim that its Claude model proved thousands of small theorems while formalizing a proof of Fermat's Last Theorem.
wired.com
· 2026-09-12
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