---
title: Quoting Jake Boggan
link: https://simonwillison.net/2026/Oct/7/jake-boggan/
source: simonwillison-net
published: 2026-10-07T04:47:55Z
updated: 2026-10-07T04:47:55Z
first_seen: 2026-10-07T05:44:45.801061649Z
labels:
- ai
- deep-blue
- generative-ai
- llms
- mathematics
- openai
summary: 'I was a graph theory junkie long ago and even moved to Budapest for awhile to study among the greats. While I was there I started working on Barnette''s Conjecture which came to occupy my thoughts over the next 24 years of my life, on and off as I worked in many different fields. Last summer I even thought for a few days that I had actually solved it. But it''s supposedly proven here - problem 180. I don''t know what to think exactly. I spent thousands of hours on that problem. I really enjoyed it. Hearing that it is solved somehow makes me sad in a far-off way, like hearing an ex-girlfriend died suddenly in a car crash. I don''t know, there''s probably a lot of people feeling odd emotions tonight. — Jake Boggan, Hacker News comment on openai/math Tags: openai, mathematics, deep-blue, llms, ai, generative-ai'
content: extracted
html: 2026-10-07-quoting-jake-boggan.html
---

> I was a graph theory junkie long ago and even moved to Budapest for awhile to study among the greats. While I was there I started working on Barnette's Conjecture which came to occupy my thoughts over the next 24 years of my life, on and off as I worked in many different fields. Last summer I even thought for a few days that I had actually solved it.
>
> But it's supposedly proven here - [problem 180](https://github.com/openai/math/blob/main/lean/docs/180.md). I don't know what to think exactly. I spent thousands of hours on that problem. I really enjoyed it. Hearing that it is solved somehow makes me sad in a far-off way, like hearing an ex-girlfriend died suddenly in a car crash. I don't know, there's probably a lot of people feeling odd emotions tonight.

— [Jake Boggan](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49984923#49987367), Hacker News comment on [openai/math](https://github.com/openai/math)