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Mathematics

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The Math Evangelist Who Preaches Problem-Solving

September 13, 2022

Richard Rusczyk, founder of Art of Problem Solving, has a vision for bringing “joyous, beautiful math” — and problem-solving — to classrooms everywhere.

How Shannon Entropy Imposes Fundamental Limits on Communication

September 6, 2022

What’s a message, really? Claude Shannon recognized that the elemental ingredient is surprise.

How Isaac Newton Discovered the Binomial Power Series

August 31, 2022

Rethinking questions and chasing patterns led Newton to find the connection between curves and infinite sums.

Old Problem About Mathematical Curves Falls to Young Couple

August 25, 2022

Eric Larson and Isabel Vogt have solved the interpolation problem — a centuries-old question about some of the most basic objects in geometry. Some credit goes to the chalkboard in their living room.

Help Star Trek’s Lieutenant Uhura Overcome Astronomical Odds

August 18, 2022

In honor of the actor and activist Nichelle Nichols, this month’s puzzle imagines a Star Trek adventure in which her character, Lieutenant Uhura, faces a life-and-death conundrum.

A Numerical Mystery From the 19th Century Finally Gets Solved

August 15, 2022

Two mathematicians have proven Patterson’s conjecture, which was designed to explain a strange pattern in sums involving prime numbers.

Mathematicians Crack a Simple but Stubborn Class of Equations

August 10, 2022

Ever since Archimedes, mathematicians have been fascinated by equations that involve a difference between squares. Now two mathematicians have proven how often these equations have solutions, concluding a decades-old quest.

At Long Last, Mathematical Proof That Black Holes Are Stable

August 4, 2022

The solutions to Einstein’s equations that describe a spinning black hole won’t blow up, even when poked or prodded.

Seeking Mathematical Truth in Counterfeit Coin Puzzles

July 29, 2022

Readers balanced logical reasoning and mathematical insights to find phony coins with a double-pan balance scale.

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