February 2026 Newsletter
- nshell8
- 1 day ago
- 7 min read
Welcome to the Math and AI 4 Girls February newsletter! This month, we’re excited to share inspiring stories of women in STEM, fascinating breakthroughs in math and AI research, and important contest updates as we count down to the upcoming MA4G competition!
Contributors: Fiona Liu, Michelle Zheng, Lulu Wang-He, Yuvika Kandel, Chelsea Lu
Table of Contents
About Us
MA4G Competition Update
Problem of the Month
Puzzle
Women in Math Story
Math and AI Research
Promotional
POTM Resources & Hints
January Puzzle Solution
About Us
Math and AI 4 Girls is a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting young girls' interest in STEM. Each spring, we organize a competition designed to motivate students to engage with problem-solving through a challenging problem set and share their unique STEM stories through two thought-provoking essay prompts.
Any female students with U.S. residency younger than 15 years old are eligible to enter! (Past grand prize winners, however, are not eligible to re-enter.) Winners are recognized at an online awards ceremony during the summer, and award recipients will receive prizes, such as up to 1,000 dollars, merchandise from sponsors, a personalized award certificate, and more! If you know anyone who might be interested, please encourage them to stay connected via our website and join our Discord, where we offer more math competition opportunities, host activities such as problem-of-the-week, and prepare for next year’s competition, opening in March 2026!
MA4G Competition Update
In case you haven’t heard, Math and AI 4 Girls is excited to announce that the lower age limit for our competition has now been removed! This means that ANY girl in 8th grade or below is now eligible to participate in MA4G. Be sure to spread the word to any younger classmates, friends, or family members who are interested in STEM!
We are now just ONE month away from the MA4G competition, which opens on March 22! The MA4G Team is SO excited to see your submissions! Competitors have the chance to win prizes of up to $1000 as well as merch from our sponsors.
In the meantime, the problem set team is releasing weekly challenges in our Discord server, along with a Problem of the Month, which you can find below! All of the details can be found on our website. If you’d like to access a previous edition of the newsletter, be sure to check out the Newsletter Archive on our website! $10 will be awarded to the eligible contestant with the highest cumulative POTW score for each month, and $50 for the eligible contestant with the highest cumulative POTM score at the end of the season. Everyone is encouraged to participate!
If you are too young to make a Discord account, it is perfectly fine for your parents or guardians to make an account and join our server for you. If you win a prize at the end of the season, we will contact you (or your parents if they joined the server for you) to verify your information.
As we get closer to March, stay tuned for upcoming updates, stay involved, and help us spread the word to your communities! You can find us on AoPS, Instagram, Discord, and our website.
POTM
Welcome to MA4G’s February Problem of the Month! Every issue of the newsletter, we’ll feature a math challenge for you to try. This month’s problem is below:
Jeffrey rolls three fair six-sided dice. What is the probability that the mean of the three results is equal to the median of the three results? Express the probability as m/n in lowest terms and compute m + n.
Submit your solutions here!
If you’re feeling stuck, we have resources and hints at the bottom of this newsletter to help you out. We highly recommend trying your best before checking the hints, and working with them one at a time.
Everyone is encouraged to participate, and we will be giving $50 at the end of the season to the eligible contestant with the highest cumulative POTM score!
Good luck and have fun!
Puzzle
This month's puzzle is called “Challenge 24.” Here are the rules:
Use each number once.
You may use +, −, ×, ÷, and parentheses.
No concatenating digits (no turning 2 and 3 into 23).
Here are three levels for you to try!
Easy: 2, 3, 4, 6
Medium: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8
Hard: 3, 3, 8, 8
Solutions to last month's Puzzle can be found at the end of this newsletter!
Problem Credits: Chelsea Lu, MA4G '26
Women in Math Story
Every month, we share a story about a figure who reflects the mission of MA4G. This month, we share the journey of Emmy Noether, whose passion and determination paved the way for future young women in STEM.
Emmy Noether grew up in Erlangen, Germany, nurturing her love for mathematics despite not being welcomed in most academic spaces at the time. She earned her doctorate in 1907 at the University of Erlangen, but for years she was not allowed to hold a paid teaching position. In 1915, she was invited to the University of Göttingen, where she worked alongside leading mathematicians and physicists. Her breakthrough came in 1918, when she published Noether’s Theorem, a discovery that became foundational for modern theoretical physics. Today, Emmy Noether is widely recognized as one of the most influential mathematicians of the twentieth century, radically transforming algebra and physics.
Noether’s Theorem revealed a powerful connection between symmetry and conservation laws. She proved that when the laws of nature remain unchanged under a certain transformation, there must be a conserved quantity. Beyond physics, Noether also revolutionized abstract algebra, developing ideas that shaped the study of rings, fields, and ideals. Although she faced constant barriers as a Jewish woman in twentieth-century Germany, Noether’s brilliance made her a leading figure in her field. Albert Einstein even famously called her “the most significant mathematical genius thus far produced since the higher education of women began.”
Noether’s legacy continues not only through Noether’s Theorem—which is still taught in physics classrooms worldwide—but also through her courage as a Jewish woman pursuing her passions in a society designed to exclude her. Emmy Noether remains a symbol of perseverance, creativity, and intellectual courage, inspiring young women across the globe.
Math and AI Research
At MA4G, we talk a lot about math and AI… but what about using AI to do math? This month, we’ll break down some recent updates showing how artificial intelligence can be used to tackle open problems, generate proofs, and reshape the way researchers approach mathematics. Learn more by clicking on the links below!
AI tools, particularly large language models (LLMs) such as ChatGPT, are becoming increasingly proficient at solving long-standing math problems. In recent months, researchers Mehtaab Sawhney and Mark Sellke have used ChatGPT to comb through the 1,179 conjectures left by 20th-century mathematician Paul Erdos, uncovering overlooked proofs for nine problems and partial progress on eleven more. (See the complete database at https://www.erdosproblems.com/.)
According to Fields medalist Terence Tao, AI has now contributed to solving around 100 Erdos problems. In at least two cases, an LLM was even able to construct an original and valid proof to a problem that had never been solved, with little human guidance. As a result, LLMs are now useful research assistants, uncovering obscure results in research papers that never receive wide publicity. Andrew Sutherland, a mathematician at MIT, says that LLMs have pointed him to results that helped him overcome obstacles in his proofs. So while AI has not yet cracked mathematics’ most significant open questions, large language models can already generate substantive insights that help researchers push at the edge of modern mathematics.
To get an idea of AI’s current limits, mathematicians tested AI’s skills using the “First Proof” challenge. Eleven leading mathematicians designed the test to measure how well AI systems could solve math problems without human guidance. They presented the models with ten problems, similar in difficulty to exercises assigned to an advanced graduate student. The models gave proofs for all ten problems, but only the answers to the 9th and 10th problems were correct. Unfortunately, a proof that was nearly identical to the ninth problem already existed, raising doubt about AI’s actual ability to solve problems originally.
The verdict? AI is nowhere near good enough to replace contemporary mathematicians. Mohammed Abouzaid, a math professor at Stanford, said the AI’s style was similar to that of 19th-century mathematics, but what we need is 21st-century mathematics.
Promotional
Every month, we spotlight an organization that shares our mission of supporting girls in STEM. This month, we’re featuring KTK Acton, a student-run nonprofit dedicated to offering accessible enrichment courses for elementary, middle-school and high-school students via Zoom.
Since 2020, KTK Acton has taught free, online courses on a variety of academic topics. Our goal is to cultivate an engaging learning experience for students and a space where teachers can teach what they want, when they want.
Students (elementary up to emerging high school students) — Participate in fun and challenging classes that cover a variety of subjects, including English, Math, History, Science, and even Chess.
Middle & high schoolers — Become a student volunteer and teach a class based on your interests and availability. You will have the opportunity to receive volunteer hours, and no prior teaching experience is necessary.
Learn more at ktkacton.com or on Instagram @ktkacton. Feel free to email ktkacton@gmail.com with any questions or concerns!
Thank you very much to our current and past sponsors: Jane Street, DE Shaw & Co, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Hudson River Trading, AI4All, Automation Anywhere, and J.P. Morgan Chase. If you’re interested in sponsoring us, please reach out!
POTM Resources & Hints
Hints:
Let the three rolls be rearranged in nondecreasing order: a < b < c. Then the median is b. Translate “mean equals median” into the equation (a+b+c)/3 = b.
Interpret the condition the problem gives: it forces a, b, c to be in arithmetic progression (equally spaced). Now count how many such
triples can happen with values 1 through 6, and remember to convert from sorted triples to ordered dice outcomes.
Resources:
January Puzzle Solutions
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