Chinese professor challenges world to solve 1,000 math problems, offers cash rewards

Sun Zhiwei, 61, a professor at Nanjing University, has spent years developing mathematical conjectures, for researchers around the world to solve. This year, he completed a manuscript exceeding 400 pages containing 1,000 of his unsolved conjectures, according to China Science Daily.

Among them is a problem he proposed in February 2017, known as the "24 conjecture," for which he has offered a reward of $2,400. The problem builds on a mathematical theorem established more than 200 years ago, which states that every nonnegative integer can be expressed as the sum of four integer squares.

Sun has offered similar prizes for other conjectures, paying the rewards entirely from his salary because research funding cannot be used for such expenses. He has already paid approximately five rewards to researchers who successfully proved his conjectures.

Chinese mathematics professor Sun Zhiwei. Photo from Weibo

Sun's work focuses largely on number theory, a branch of mathematics concerned with the properties and relationships of numbers, particularly integers.

Early in his career, Sun focused on solving existing mathematical problems, but a turning point came during a 2005 visit to the University of California, Irvine, where he discovered how mathematical software could help researchers identify numerical patterns. In 2009, he taught himself to use Mathematica, a program that allowed him to test thousands of numerical cases and inspired him to develop his own mathematical conjectures.

Some of Sun's problems are so difficult that he jokingly calls them "alien conjectures," suggesting they are beyond the abilities of mathematicians on Earth. His work has attracted interest from international researchers, including the late Fields Medal-winning mathematician Jean Bourgain.

Despite the difficulty of his problems, he believes proposing new questions is essential to advancing mathematics. His approach has taken on greater significance as artificial intelligence becomes increasingly capable of solving complex mathematical problems.

In an interview reported by the South China Morning Post, he said AI should be welcomed as a powerful research tool rather than viewed as a threat to mathematicians.

He said he also uses AI in his research, sometimes restricting its internet access to prevent it from looking up existing solutions. He likened AI to a knowledgeable and hardworking graduate student who still needs guidance when tackling difficult problems.

He believed AI cannot solve every mathematical problem and that human mathematicians will remain essential, particularly in developing new theories and identifying questions worth exploring.