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Number theory·elliptic:rank-record

Largest known rank of an elliptic curve over the rationals

record target maximiserecord held by a machine F0 no formal statement

No independent check recorded yet. A formal artifact, declaration or published object is attached, but no rebuild of it is recorded here.

Fidelity F0: Absent. No formal statement is attached to the result.

The rank of an elliptic curve over the rational numbers counts its independent rational points of infinite order. Whether ranks are unbounded is open; the record is a lower bound, shown by exhibiting independent points.

Source

Record history

20 steps·rank (lower bound), higher is better
10203019401960198020002020at least 3, G. Billing, 1938at least 4, A. Wiman, 1945at least 6, David Penney and Carl Pomerance, 1974at least 7, David Penney and Carl Pomerance, 1975at least 8, Fritz Grunewald and Rainer Zimmert, 1977at least 9, Armand Brumer and Kenneth Kramer, 1977at least 12, Jean-François Mestre, 1982at least 14, Jean-François Mestre, 1986at least 15, Jean-François Mestre, 1992at least 17, Kazuhiko Nagao, 1992at least 19, Stéphane Fermigier, 1992at least 20, Kazuhiko Nagao, 1993at least 21, Kazuhiko Nagao and Tomonori Kouya, 1994at least 22, Stéphane Fermigier, 1997at least 23, Robert Martin and William McMillen, 1998at least 24, Robert Martin and William McMillen, 2000at least 28, Noam Elkies, 2006at least 29, Noam Elkies and Zev Klagsbrun, 2024at least 30, Levent Alpöge and Ava Howell, with Claude, 2026-08-20at least 31, Claude, Levent Alpöge and Ava Howell, 2026-08-23
Ink marks are steps by people and clay marks steps where AI took part; grey marks did not move the record, and hollow marks are candidates. How frontiers are drawn

Records rose from 3 in 1938 to 28 when Noam Elkies found his curve in 2006, and stood there for eighteen years until Elkies and Zev Klagsbrun reached 29 in 2024. In August 2026 curves of rank at least 30 and 31 were submitted to ICARM's Elliptic Curve Rank Leaderboard, which verifies each submission before admitting it; the rank-31 entry is credited to Claude, Levent Alpöge and Ava Howell. Steps before 2026 follow Andrej Dujella's table of rank records, which cites each original paper.

at least 31

Claude, Levent Alpöge and Ava Howell·23 Aug 2026·Source·Artifact

Curve 302. The leaderboard's entry reads: found by Claude, Levent Alpöge, and Ava Howell. Rank exactly 31 is certified under BSD and GRH; the unconditional result is the lower bound shown by 31 independent points.

AI took partbest known
at least 30

Levent Alpöge and Ava Howell, with Claude·20 Aug 2026·Source

Curve 273, submitted to ICARM's leaderboard by the user ranksunbounded. Dujella's table credits Alpöge and Howell; Scientific American reports that they used an internal variant of Claude.

AI took partmoved the record
at least 29

Noam Elkies and Zev Klagsbrun·2024·Source

From Dujella's table of rank records.

moved the record
at least 28

Noam Elkies·2006·Source

From Dujella's table of rank records; the record for eighteen years.

moved the record
at least 24

Robert Martin and William McMillen·2000·Source

From Dujella's table of rank records.

moved the record
at least 23

Robert Martin and William McMillen·1998·Source

From Dujella's table of rank records.

moved the record
at least 22

Stéphane Fermigier·1997·Source

From Dujella's table of rank records.

moved the record
at least 21

Kazuhiko Nagao and Tomonori Kouya·1994·Source

From Dujella's table of rank records.

moved the record
at least 20

Kazuhiko Nagao·1993·Source

From Dujella's table of rank records.

moved the record
at least 19

Stéphane Fermigier·1992·Source

From Dujella's table of rank records.

moved the record
at least 17

Kazuhiko Nagao·1992·Source

From Dujella's table of rank records.

moved the record
at least 15

Jean-François Mestre·1992·Source

From Dujella's table of rank records.

moved the record
at least 14

Jean-François Mestre·1986·Source

From Dujella's table of rank records.

moved the record
at least 12

Jean-François Mestre·1982·Source

From Dujella's table of rank records.

moved the record
at least 9

Armand Brumer and Kenneth Kramer·1977·Source

From Dujella's table of rank records.

moved the record
at least 8

Fritz Grunewald and Rainer Zimmert·1977·Source

From Dujella's table of rank records.

moved the record
at least 7

David Penney and Carl Pomerance·1975·Source

From Dujella's table of rank records.

moved the record
at least 6

David Penney and Carl Pomerance·1974·Source

From Dujella's table of rank records.

moved the record
at least 4

A. Wiman·1945·Source

From Dujella's table of rank records.

moved the record
at least 3

G. Billing·1938·Source

From Dujella's table of rank records.

moved the record

AI activity

How grades work
Claude

23 Aug 2026·with Levent Alpöge, Ava Howell

An elliptic curve over the rationals of rank at least 31, verified by ICARM's leaderboard.

record A1 V2 F0
Reasoning and sources

Autonomy

The leaderboard credits the curve jointly to Claude and two mathematicians.

F0 no formal statement. Absent. No formal statement is attached to the result.

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All discussion

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Sources

Cite this record

qed.bot, “Largest known rank of an elliptic curve over the rationals”, https://qed.bot/t/elliptic-rank-record, as of 30 Sep 2026.

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