Mathematics

The decades-old Sullivan’s conjecture, about the best way to minimize the surface area of a bubble cluster, was thought to be out of reach for three bubbles and up — until a new breakthrough result.

Readers rescued a Star Trek crew from a probabilistic predicament armed only with the power of mathematical reasoning.

Of all the endless questions children and mathematicians have asked about infinity, one of the biggest has to do with its size.

A comprehensive mathematical framework treats wrinkling patterns as elegant solutions to geometric problems.

A simple geometric idea has been used to power advances in information theory, cryptography and even blockchain technology.

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

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

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

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.