The first is that computers, with their tolerance for tedium, are particularly suited to writing the steps of a formal proof down.

ECONOMIST: Just what does it mean to prove something?

However, rather than have part of the proof done by hand, and part by computer, he has automated the entire proof, and done so in such a manner that it is a formal proof.

ECONOMIST: Just what does it mean to prove something?

Formal proof is a notion developed in the early part of the 20th century by logicians such as Bertrand Russell and Gottlob Frege, along with mathematicians such as David Hilbert (who can fairly be described as the father of modern mathematics) and Nicolas Bourbaki, the pseudonym of a group of French mathematicians who sought to place all of mathematics on a rigorous footing.

ECONOMIST: Just what does it mean to prove something?