Tracking Erdos problem webpage update

[seewoo5]

Already discussed in #Formal conjectures > Tracking update of Erdos problem website (and Erdos 975), but since I may not have time to do it myself (and also probably no authority to do, since I'm not owner of this repo) so I'll also record it here:

Erdos problem webpages occasionally update for several reason, e.g. progress on a problem, find relevant references, etc. Rarely, the statements also change and we may need to update formalization accordingly, and it would be great if there's some "alert" for it. Thankfully, Thomas Blooming added newly updated date feature to the website which should be useful.

What I had in mind was the following: Github workflow checks Erdos problem pages regularly (only for formalized problems), and if there's an update (compare with previous update date), then make this as an issue in this repository. Probably I'm wrong, but most of the updates are not minor - statements or status are changed. At least, I think making issues for each won't be annoying too much. But there might be a better way to do.

[ayushman1210]

hi @seewoo5
Thanks for the detailed explanation! The idea of automating checks for updates on the Erdős problem pages makes sense.
I had a couple of clarifying questions so I can understand how to contribute:

• Is there already a preferred approach for monitoring updates (e.g., a specific API or endpoint to check the “last updated” timestamp)?
• If not, would it be helpful if I draft a simple GitHub Action that periodically checks the update dates for the problems already formalized?
• Should the workflow open an issue automatically, or would you prefer the workflow only log the change for manual review?

Happy to help in whichever direction you think fits best
thanks !!

[seewoo5]

@ayushman1210 Hi!

I don't have a preferred approach yet, but my vague idea was more close to making a GitHub Action checking update periodically. In particular, opening an issue whenever it find something to be updated would be nice, although I'm not sure how often this actually happens (probably we should ask Thomas Blooming) - I believe it doesn't happen very often so opening issues won't be "annoying".

[ayushman1210]

Thanks for the clarification!
That makes sense. I can start drafting a GitHub Action that periodically checks the “last updated” dates on the Erdős problem pages and opens an issue when something changes.
About checking with Thomas Bloom — I wasn’t able to find his GitHub handle to tag him directly, but if someone can point me to it, I’m happy to ask about how frequently updates occur. Otherwise, I can proceed with a prototype and adjust the workflow later if needed.

Let me know if this direction sounds good!

[seewoo5]

That sounds good! Also this is Thomas Bloom's account I guess, although I cannot tag him here directly.

[ayushman1210]

Hi @seewoo5 i made a pr for this issue #1258 please check and let me know if anything else is needed :)