November 30, 2025
Proof or PR?
AI just proved Erdos Problem #124
AI cracks a famous math puzzle and the comments go to war
TLDR: An AI called Aristotle claims a Lean-checked solution to Erdős Problem #124. Fans cheer another AI math milestone, skeptics demand official verification and clarity on a typo and statement differences; the thread turns into a battle over trust and what counts as “solved.”
Math forums just exploded after an AI named Aristotle (from Harmonic) reportedly solved Erdős Problem #124—one of those legendary brain-busting puzzles. The author says Aristotle did it in 6 hours and the Lean proof-checker confirmed in a minute, and you can even type-check it online. But the vibe? Pure drama. One early comment got [flagged], setting a spicy tone, and then the crowd split.
Supporters point to a pattern: user menaerus claims it’s the second back-to-back AI-assisted win from the same author, after ChatGPT wrote a Lean proof for Erdős #340 (link). Meanwhile, skeptics like wasmainiac are side-eyeing the lack of an official announcement from Harmonic—“is this verified or just hype?” Others come armed with receipts: adt drops that GPT-5 separately solved Erdős #848 and calls it “verified” (link).
Then it gets nerdy: there was a typo in the formal statement, plus a subtle “units digit” issue and a missing greatest-common-divisor (gcd) condition in one source, so people are arguing whether Aristotle nailed the exact original problem or a corrected, stronger version. Cue memes: “Lean did it in 1 minute, humans need coffee,” “Erdős speedrun,” and “Math majors updating resumes.” For deeper receipts, esperent points to a detailed thread on the Erdős forum (link). TL;DR: AI may have solved it, but the comments are solving trust.
Key Points
- •Aristotle (an AI by Harmonic) generated a Lean proof of Erdős Problem #124 using only the formal statement.
- •A typo in the formalization (“≥ 1” vs “= 1”) was identified and corrected, and the corrected statement was proven.
- •Unnecessary parts of the original formal statement were removed; Aristotle proved the streamlined version as well.
- •Three versions of the statement were proven, with a preferred formal theorem (erdos_124) presented.
- •The author notes a subtle mismatch with BEGL96 and indicates the Er97 reference aligns with the presented statement; Aristotle took 6 hours and Lean verified in 1 minute.