Coherent publication of a course slide collection

Research-attempt provenance

Definitions and mathematical statement

Shared notation.

Standard number systems are $\mathbb N,\mathbb Z,\mathbb Q,\mathbb R,\mathbb C$. Specialized notation and index ranges follow the cited source and the definitions below.

A slide collection groups presentation units for a course. Embedding a slide in a book reuses content within a different document structure. A stable course link identifies a collection while its contents may be updated; versioning distinguishes successive states of that collection.

Record scope and qualifications.

The catalogue title is retained as metadata. Named certificates, contracts, bounds or frameworks in that title are not asserted as results of the original source extract. The source does not define identifiers, update behavior, version preservation, or the relation between the book and slide collection.

Catalogue screening limitation: PreTeXt software design, documentation, or publication feature request; no mathematical problem is specified by the supplied passage.

The source snapshot labels this record partially solved; this is catalogue metadata rather than independent verification of a mathematical result or the current completion of a project.

Statement recorded in the supplied source.

Put a slide in a book? Really gather all slides in one place so you can share all slides for a course in a single link, that is updated regularly. This is really like creating a "course". [S2]

Source status.

The supplied catalogue labels this source record partially solved; that metadata was checked against the supplied snapshot on 2026-10-11. The label is preserved for provenance and is not an independent verification of present open status or mathematical correctness.

Short English statement

Collect and share course slides through a regularly updated resource that can also be reused in a book.

Sources

• S1 Ulam AI and the UnsolvedMath Contributors, UnsolvedMath: A Curated Collection of Open Mathematics Problems, record 20002182 (AIM-INFRASTRUCTURE-0082). Catalogue curation and metadata: CC BY 4.0. The source extract is retained; definitions, English summaries and qualifications are editorial additions. https://huggingface.co/datasets/ulamai/UnsolvedMath.
• S2 AIM Workshop Problem Lists, source linked by catalogue record AIM-INFRASTRUCTURE-0082. https://github.com/PreTeXtBook/community/wiki/Moderated-Problem-Session.

Preparation and review.

The original source and UnsolvedMath contributors retain attribution for the source extract. Codex (GPT-6; exact serving revision not exposed) assisted with definitions, English summaries, scope notes and formatting. No new human mathematical authorship or independently verified solution is asserted. Permanent source ID 20002182 and code AIM-INFRASTRUCTURE-0082 checked against the complete supplied registry and current repository. Distinct upstream records, including repeated questions and broad or damaged extracts, are retained for complete coverage of the source CS category. A repeated record is not a new independent conjecture. Complete mathematical-equivalence and current-literature review has not been performed. Preparation and final review follow contribution prompts C and D, with source gaps disclosed. Structural and rendering checks do not establish a new theorem or open status.

Literature and context check

The primary community-session source was consulted. The record is a broad software-design request, and no mathematical theorem follows from its editorial catalogue title. The finite model below is explicitly auxiliary; it does not certify an actual implementation or current feature status.

Research attempt: A stable course link can expose inconsistent slide versions

Suppose a course index points to slide decks $A$ and $B$, and deck $A$ links to a particular slide in $B$. Publishing a new index and new $A$ while leaving old $B$ in place can give a reader a mixture in which the referenced slide is absent or has changed meaning. A single stable course URL does not prevent this mixed-version state.

In an abstract snapshot model, a course manifest $M$ records an ordered list of deck-version identities and their internal target maps. Each listed deck version is immutable and already available. Validate every cross-deck reference against the exact listed version of its destination. Publish by atomically changing the stable course pointer to $M$, and have readers retain that manifest identity throughout their session. Then every deck fetched and every cross-deck reference followed agrees with one validated manifest. Proof: the initial pointer chooses one $M$; each fetch uses its recorded version; every validated edge points to a recorded target in that version. Induction on followed references keeps the session inside the chosen snapshot.

Decks in one manifest need not share the same version number: a course can deliberately combine $A_5$ and $B_2$. Consistency means agreement with the chosen manifest, not numerical equality of version labels. Conversely, if a deck link bypasses the manifest through an unversioned latest URL, the induction fails at that edge. Keeping the old manifest but deleting a referenced immutable deck also violates the availability premise.

The model solves a limited identity-consistency problem under atomic publication and retention assumptions. It does not implement collection search, slide embedding in a book, authoring workflows, or the desired update cadence, all of which remain part of the broad original request.

Verification and adversarial audit

The construction and counterexample are checked in the written finite model. No actual PreTeXt build, browser, EPUB reader, or publishing service was tested. All runtime and identity assumptions used by the proof are stated explicitly.

Audit corrections.

Snapshot consistency is not confused with forcing equal version labels. Availability and atomic pointer semantics are explicit assumptions, and unversioned bypass links are tested.

External computation.

None; symbolic arguments and boundary checks only.

Scope and remaining gaps

This is a restricted route investigation. The full feature requires implementation, supported-version decisions, conformance tests, and user-facing evaluation that were not performed here. The original agenda remains unresolved, and no novelty or completed software feature is claimed.

Integration review.

Codex (GPT-6; exact serving revision not exposed) reviewed the written arguments and expanded layout and source-reference wrappers. Repository metadata and the production web renderer were checked using Python 3.13 and JavaScript with MathJax 3.2.2. This model-assisted review is not independent human proof verification; no PDF compilation or formal proof checking is asserted.

Completion Estimate

COMPLETION: 0% The calculations below the preserved source statement investigate a concrete route, but establish no substantiated new progress toward the entire original target. Known special cases and failed sufficient conditions are not credited as a solution.

References

The original source references and catalogue attribution are preserved in the Sources section above. The following URLs were actually consulted for this attempt; retention of an additional original reference does not claim fresh consultation of it.

• https://github.com/PreTeXtBook/community/wiki/Moderated-Problem-Session (consulted 2026-10-11).

Model and contributor disclosure

OpenAI gpt-6-astra, requested reasoning configuration ultra, generated this research attempt on 2026-10-11. The exact serving revision is not exposed. Codex GPT-6 performed orchestration and repository-format review; its exact serving revision is also not exposed. The mathematical route, boundary checks and final adversarial self-audit followed contribution prompts A then B in docs/contribution_prompts.md, after reading CONTRIBUTING.md. Python 3.14.2 assembled the standalone documents; any mathematical computation is specified in Verification. No theorem prover was used. No human mathematical authorship, substantial human proof correction, or independent human proof checking is asserted. Model-assisted review, source retrieval, and structural checks do not establish correctness or novelty. Full private reasoning transcripts are unavailable as reproducibility artifacts; the complete arguments, inputs and outcomes actually used are stated here or in the companion batch audit.

Final status

Unresolved as a new research contribution. This is a concrete route investigation, not a claim of new complete resolution or a current-status certification. A known answer reproduced for context does not become a new contribution. The catalogue's source-status label is preserved; this attempt status does not assert that a source-labelled solved question is open.