Latest Articles
Big Advance on Simple-Sounding Math Problem Was a Century in the Making
A new proof about prime numbers illuminates the subtle relationship between addition and multiplication — and raises hopes for progress on the famous abc conjecture.
Perplexing the Web, One Probability Puzzle at a Time
The mathematician Daniel Litt has driven social media users to distraction with a series of simple-seeming but counterintuitive probability puzzles.
Monumental Proof Settles Geometric Langlands Conjecture
In work that has been 30 years in the making, mathematicians have proved a major part of a profound mathematical vision called the Langlands program.
Merging Fields, Mathematicians Go the Distance on Old Problem
Mathematicians have illuminated what sets of points can look like if the distances between them are all whole numbers.
A New Generation of Mathematicians Pushes Prime Number Barriers
New work attacks a long-standing barrier to understanding how prime numbers are distributed.
Hobbyist Finds Math’s Elusive ‘Einstein’ Tile
The surprisingly simple tile is the first single, connected tile that can fill the entire plane in a pattern that never repeats — and can’t be made to fill it in a repeating way.
Emmy Murphy Is a Mathematician Who Finds Beauty in Flexibility
The prize-winning geometer feels most fulfilled when exploring the fertile ground where constraint meets creation.
Mathematicians Roll Dice and Get Rock-Paper-Scissors
Mathematicians have uncovered a surprising wealth of rock-paper-scissors-like patterns in randomly chosen dice.
Mathematical Trio Advances Centuries-Old Number Theory Problem
The work — the first-ever limit on how many whole numbers can be written as the sum of two cubed fractions — makes significant headway on “a recurring embarrassment for number theorists.”