FOM: Are machines better in math?

[Gordon Fisher]

charles silver wrote:

>     I previously posted the question whether chess is as interesting
> as mathematics, intending to stimulate discussion on the role of
> mathematical insight in obtaining results.   However, immediately
> after posting the earlier question, I happened to stumble upon
> a short account documenting the success of theorem provers in
> "discovering" new theorems.
> *****************************************

It has been a while since I made a short foray into automated
theorem proving, but my recollection is that I concluded that
one had to be very careful to build into programs for
proving theorems some carefully chosen ingredients of
the proofs one expected to get.  Can anyone challenge me
on this cynical opinion?

Gordon Fisher     gfisher at shentel.net