Puzzles

Playing with a simple bean machine illustrates how deterministic laws can produce probabilistic, random-seeming behavior.

Is nature inherently random or is perfect randomness just an illusion based on our ignorance?

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

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

What do moiré patterns seen in optics, art, photography and color printing have to do with superconducting layers of graphene?

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

Solve a linguistic whodunit about a college mascot by thinking like a self-referencing computer subroutine.

Puzzle solvers used “imaginary” numbers to solve a real world problem: finding long-lost treasure.

In spite of their name, “imaginary” numbers are as real as any other numbers, especially when it comes to hunting for lost treasure.