Mathematics

Pure, verifiable randomness is hard to come by. Two proposals show how to make quantum computers into randomness factories.

Neven’s law states that quantum computers are improving at a “doubly exponential” rate. If it holds, quantum supremacy is around the corner.

In just three pages, a Russian mathematician has presented a better way to color certain types of networks than many experts thought possible.

Amie Wilkinson searches for exotic examples of the mathematical structures that describe change.

Decades after the landmark proof of Fermat’s Last Theorem, ideas abound for how to make it even more reliable. But such efforts reflect a deep misunderstanding of what makes the proof so important.

The universe of problems that a computer can check has grown. The researchers’ secret ingredient? Quantum entanglement.

A little high school geometry can help you understand the basic math behind movie recommendation engines.

Two women programmers played a pivotal role in the birth of chaos theory. Their previously untold story illustrates the changing status of computation in science.

To minimize brain strain when thinking recursively, start simply, look for a pattern and let the pattern do the work.