Mathematics

The twin primes conjecture is one of the most important and difficult questions in mathematics. Two mathematicians have solved a parallel version of the problem for small number systems.

The way you learned to multiply works, but computers employ a faster algorithm.

Mathematicians and neuroscientists have created the first anatomically accurate model that explains how vision is possible.

Does objective, perfect randomness exist, or is randomness merely a product of our ignorance?

The ancient Greeks wondered when “irrational” numbers can be approximated by fractions. By proving the longstanding Duffin-Schaeffer conjecture, two mathematicians have provided a complete answer.

Polynomials aren’t just exercises in abstraction. They’re good at illuminating structure in surprising places.

Answering these simple questions can give you an intuitive feel for the geometric properties behind the emergence of superconductivity in rotated graphene sheets.

The “sensitivity” conjecture stumped many top computer scientists, yet the new proof is so simple that one researcher summed it up in a single tweet.

Researchers are getting close to building a quantum computer that can perform tasks a classical computer can’t. Here’s what the milestone will mean.