If math is more than proof, we need to better celebrate the rest of it
Summary
Terence Tao (with Grant Sanderson) argues for 'motivated explanations' in mathematics as a valuable complement to proofs, proposing a framework to credit exposition and intuition. The piece discusses examples from the Princeton Companion to Mathematics, Thurston, and a GPT-assisted Erdős problem, and offers practical calls to action for academia and funding. It also reflects on AI's role in math and the importance of human understanding alongside AI-generated proofs.