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How Math Achieved Transcendence
Transcendental numbers include famous examples like e and π, but it took mathematicians centuries to understand them. In 1886 the mathematician Leopold Kronecker famously said, “God Himself made the whole...
Math’s Famous Map Problem: The Four-Color Theorem
David Richeson discusses the history and significance of the four color theorem. Joy Ng for Quanta Magazine...
Two Students Unravel a Widely Believed Math Conjecture
...in the group of the mathematician Katherine Stange. Stange is a number theorist who describes herself as a mathematical “frog” — someone who delves deep into one problem’s intricacies before...
Math Proof Draws New Boundaries Around Black Hole Formation
For a half century, mathematicians have tried to define the exact circumstances under which a black hole is destined to exist. A new proof shows how a cube can help...
A Century Later, New Math Smooths Out General Relativity
...than a century after Einstein devised his theory. Dan Lee, a mathematician at Queens College who studies the mathematics of general relativity but was not involved in this research, said...
‘A-Team’ of Math Proves a Critical Link Between Addition and Sets
...in the set and the type of structure that mathematicians should look for, thinking that would allow mathematicians to extract even more information. Marton’s conjecture has links to proof systems,...
2023’s Biggest Breakthroughs in Math
In 2023, mathematicians improved bounds on Ramsey numbers, a central measure of order in graphs; found a new aperiodic monotile; and discovered a new upper bound to the size of...
The Math Hiding in Plain Sight
Sarah Hart, the professor of geometry at Gresham College, sees symmetry everywhere. Video: Christopher Webb Young and Emily Buder/Quanta Magazine; Photo: Philipp Ammon for Quanta Magazine...
Decoding Math’s Most Famous Fractal
Mathematicians working in the field of complex dynamical systems are patiently unraveling the Mandelbrot set’s mysteries and may be on the verge of solving a fundamental conjecture that would allow...