Why does AI being good at math matter?

This is the second time in recent months that the AI world has got all excited about math. The rumor mill went into overdrive last November, when there were reports that the boardroom drama at OpenAI, which saw CEO Sam Altman temporarily ousted, was caused by a new powerful AI breakthrough. It was reported that the AI system in question was called Q* and could solve complex math calculations. You don't need to be really into math to see why this stuff is potentially very exciting. Math is really, really hard for AI models.