OpenAI o3-Pro Is So Good That I Can’t Tell How Good It Is

The downsides of not being a world-class mathematician

Let’s play a game. You have only one question: What do you ask to distinguish between the best mathematician in the world and a member of the 0.001% class of mathematicians?

Think the problem through before reading on. It won’t take you much to reach the correct answer.

Truth is, this isn’t a riddle, dear reader — there is no such question. Nothing you can ask will reveal the difference between Mr. number 1 and Mr. number 1,000. Their knowledge and skill are beyond you to such a degree that they are the same.

Oh, but I’m assuming too much. Perhaps you are a genius mathematician after all. So let me clarify what I mean: Only if you belong somewhere between the 0.001% — around top university professor level — and the likes of Gauss, Euler, Riemann, Fermat, Poincaré — depending on when you’re traveling from — could you find The Question.

The odds are surely against us. We’re 37,000 on this blog, yet 0.001% is one in a million. And Terence Tao is taken. So, most likely, neither you nor me are clever or knowledgeable enough.

If you think about it, it’s easy to find a question both #1 and #1,000 can answer, and also easy to find a…