Justin Sun Prize names first recipients for Erdős problem research

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Justin Sun Prize Erdős winners

Highlights

Justin Sun Prize awarded to Wouter van Doorn, Quanyu Tang, and Yanyang Li for solving six Erdős mathematical problems, marking the program's first confirmed awards.
Human-AI collaboration featured in the solution to Erdős Problem #650, with ChatGPT guiding proof strategy and Aristotle AI correcting formal gaps during Lean verification.
Prize payments will be made in USDT on TRON (TRC-20) or USDC on Ethereum (ERC-20), with award details and problem catalog published on the program's public GitHub.

Awards cover six problem solutions

As reported by The Block, citing the Office of Justin Sun, independent researcher Wouter van Doorn, University of Science and Technology of China Ph.D. student Quanyu Tang, and Southeast University researcher Yanyang Li are being honored for contributions across six Erdős problems.

Erdős problems are longstanding mathematical questions in areas such as number theory and combinatorics, many of which are simple to state but difficult to solve. The Erdős catalog, maintained by University of Manchester mathematician Thomas Bloom, contains more than 1,200 problems.

Van Doorn and Tang worked with Li on Erdős Problem #650, determining how many integers can always be matched to distinct multiples within a specified interval. Van Doorn also produced Lean-verifiable proofs for problems #369, #457 and #469, while Tang separately resolved #1044 and contributed with Li to a broader team solution for #1196.

Human-AI workflow and program payout

The work on Problem #650 is presented as an example of human and AI collaboration in mathematical research. ChatGPT helped shape the proof strategy, while Aristotle, an AI system for mathematical reasoning, repaired a gap during Lean formalization before the researchers finalized and simplified the argument themselves.

Tang said the process showed how public feedback can sharpen a research question and how AI-assisted discovery can work alongside mathematical judgment, collaboration and rigorous verification. The program says these are its first confirmed awards and that it recognizes both original discovery and the effort required to make proofs independently checkable.

The prizes will be paid in either USDT on TRON, TRC-20, or USDC on Ethereum, ERC-20, depending on each recipient's choice. Information on the prize, its problem catalog and recipient contributions is available through the program's public GitHub repository.

Our earlier coverage of Canada’s expanded Regional Artificial Intelligence Initiative detailed the government’s plan to add $500 million over five years, raising total federal support to $700 million to accelerate AI adoption and help domestic AI firms scale. We noted the program’s focus on applying AI across priority sectors such as health, energy, transportation, agriculture, manufacturing, and robotics to boost productivity, competitiveness, and Canada’s economic sovereignty.

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