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Famous Fluid Equations Spring a Leak
Researchers have spent centuries looking for a scenario in which the Euler fluid equations fail. Now a mathematician has finally found one.
Mathematician Proves Huge Result on ‘Dangerous’ Problem
Mathematicians regard the Collatz conjecture as a quagmire and warn each other to stay away. But now Terence Tao has made more progress than anyone in decades.
Does Natural Law Need Elegant Mathematics?
Many of us are drawn to beauty in mathematics. But is that the way nature really works?
Mathematicians Catch a Pattern by Figuring Out How to Avoid It
We finally know how big a set of numbers can get before it has to contain a pattern known as a “polynomial progression.”
Solution: ‘Randomness From Determinism’
Readers’ modifications of a bean machine showed how deterministic laws are capable of producing random-seeming behavior.
Neutrinos Lead to Unexpected Discovery in Basic Math
Three physicists stumbled across an unexpected relationship between some of the most ubiquitous objects in math.
Mathematicians Calculate How Randomness Creeps In
Mathematicians have figured out exactly how many moves it takes to randomize a 15 puzzle.
Why the Sum of Three Cubes Is a Hard Math Problem
Looking for answers in infinite space is hard. High school math can help narrow your search.
Mathematicians Cut Apart Shapes to Find Pieces of Equations
New work on the problem of “scissors congruence” explains when it’s possible to slice up one shape and reassemble it as another.