External combinators and shattering with permutations

In a nutshell, extremal combinatorics studies how large a collection of finite

objects (numbers, vectors, sets, etc.) might be, if it has to satisfy given
restrictions. About a year ago when studying an extremal problem seeking a
six-tuple of different orderings that interlace in a rather peculiar way, we
have formulated and resolved a simplified variant of the original problem. In
May 2026, this simpler variant was added to the list of 100 problems in the
so-called Benchmarks in Leipzig, where state-of-the-art LLMs got tested on
research-level mathematics with known (human) solutions, and it remained as one
of the two problems that resisted the AI attempt.

In this talk, we give a light introduction to extremal combinatorics, and
describe the shattering problem. We will also briefly discuss math tools behind
our solution, emphasising the parts that were computer-aided (without any
AI/LLM tools). No mathematical background beyond high school will be needed.
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⌚️ Start: 17:00 and end at 18:00, both online and offline in Truhlárna Karlín (Šaldova 388/5) - Onsite attendance is limited to 70 people.
🎙️ Speaker: Mgr. Jan Volec, Ph.D.
🍻 Networking after the seminar – great food and cold beer waiting for you!
🎥 Recording: After the event we will publish a recording and post a link to it in the comments.
🚪Doors open at 16:45, and the event officially starts at 17:00.
Your expertise is about to take off. Can't wait to have you on board!
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Who is hosting the event
Miton is a Czech VC with portfolio companies like Rossum, Equilibre, or Rohlik. Apart from supporting Miton AI Times, Miton also issues the bi-weekly AI Newsletter.
Read more about Miton and AI.