Mathematics

Through exacting geometric calculations, Philip Gibbs has found the smallest known cover for any possible shape.

Alexander Smith’s work on the Goldfeld conjecture reveals fundamental characteristics of elliptic curves.

A new proof from the Australian science fiction writer Greg Egan and a 2011 proof anonymously posted online are now being hailed as significant advances on a puzzle mathematicians have been studying for at least 25 years.

A new statistical model appears to undermine long-held assumptions in number theory. How much should it be trusted when all that really matters is proof?

Odd enough to potentially model the strangeness of the physical world, complex numbers with “imaginary” components are rooted in the familiar.

In a major mathematical achievement, a small team of researchers has proven Zimmer’s conjecture.

Two mathematicians have found what they say is a hole at the heart of a proof that has convulsed the mathematics community for nearly six years.

In math, sometimes the most common things are the hardest to find.

The 19th-century discovery of numbers called “quaternions” gave mathematicians a way to describe rotations in space, forever changing physics and math.