Erdős Problem #488

Partial progress by Aristotle (27 Nov 2025): new solution to variant problem (Lean). 2 AI contributions are recorded in all.

Problem
Erdős problem #488 (number theory); current status: open (falsifiable)
Credit
Aristotle · AI building on known literature
Checked
Lean formalizationListed in Tao's wiki
Timeline
First AI contribution 2025-11-27 · wiki data as of 2026-06-30
Sources
Problem page (erdosproblems.com)Tao's AI-contributions wiki
PARTIALPer Tao's AI-contributions wiki

The problem

Let AA be a finite set and

B={n≥1:a∣n for some a∈A}.B=\{ n \geq 1 : a\mid n\textrm{ for some }a\in A\}.

Is it true that, for every m>n≥max⁡(A)m>n\geq \max(A),

∣B∩[1,m]∣m<2∣B∩[1,n]∣n?\frac{\lvert B\cap [1,m]\rvert }{m}< 2\frac{\lvert B\cap [1,n]\rvert}{n}?

Statement quoted from erdosproblems.com/488, maintained by Thomas Bloom. Original source: [Er61,p.236][Er66,p.150][Er80,p.112]. Current status there: open (falsifiable).

AI contributions

As recorded in Terence Tao's wiki AI contributions to Erdős problems (data as of 30 Jun 2026). 🟢 full, 🟡 partial, ⚪ unverified, 🔴 incorrect.

Date Kind AI systems Humans Outcome Literature
27 Nov, 2025 AI building on known literature Aristotle — 🟡 New solution to variant problem (Lean) 🟡 Cambie (2025)
20 Mar, 2026 AI working with humans Aristotle, GPT-5.4 Przemek Chojecki 🟡 Partial result —

Caveats

The wiki's classifications are provisional and are not a benchmark. Many Erdős problems have never had a thorough literature review, so a result that looks new may later turn out to be known; some problems were also stated ambiguously or incorrectly. See the problem page for the full discussion.

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