Caltech Mathathon – first hackathon ever devoted to research level mathematics

Caltech will host the Mathathon, the first hackathon devoted to research-level mathematics, from October 30 to November 1, where 100 teams will use frontier AI models to solve open conjectures and defend results before leading mathematicians, with over $2 million in AI credits and prizes for verified results.

40 hours, $2M+ AI credits, solve an open problem. AI has made groundbreaking progress in pure math in the past few months: - May 20, 2026: Erdos's planar unit-distance conjecture was disproved open 80 years <sup \ 1\ https://cdn.openai.com/pdf/74c24085-19b0-4534-9c90-465b8e29ad73/unit-distance-proof.pdf </sup . - August 1, 2026: The first explicit non-sofic group was constructed open 27 years <sup \ 2\ https://github.com/openai/ten-proofs/blob/main/NonSoficGroup.lean </sup . - August 23, 2026: The six-sphere was shown to admit a complex structure open 78 years; unverified <sup \ 3\ https://alpo.ge/s6.pdf </sup . This AI advancement raises the following questions: a How much can AI speed up the process from ideation to peer-reviewed publication? b What is the role of a mathematician when AI can solve conjectures faster? We are assembling the top math talent worldwide to answer these questions. On October 30th, a hundred teams will be given frontier models to solve open conjectures and build new mathematical theories. Then, they will defend their results before leading mathematicians, who will assess their understanding of the results. We will award prizes to the most promising and well-explained results at the event. Then, after the math community has had time to verify these results, we will provide a second round of prizes. It will be the first hackathon ever devoted to research level mathematics. - Where: California Institute of Technology - When: October 30th to November 1st Contact: mathathon@caltech.edu mailto:mathathon@caltech.edu