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The Year in Math

December 16, 2024

Landmark results in geometry and number theory marked an exciting year for mathematics, at a time when advances in artificial intelligence are starting to transform the subject’s future.

Teen Mathematicians Tie Knots Through a Mind-Blowing Fractal

November 26, 2024

Three high schoolers and their mentor revisited a century-old theorem to prove that all knots can be found in a fractal called the Menger sponge.

Monumental Proof Settles Geometric Langlands Conjecture

July 19, 2024

In work that has been 30 years in the making, mathematicians have proved a major part of a profound mathematical vision called the Langlands program.

Q&A

How Failure Has Made Mathematics Stronger

May 22, 2024

The topologist Danny Calegari discusses the inevitability of disappointment in math, and how to learn from it.

Strangely Curved Shapes Break 50-Year-Old Geometry Conjecture

May 14, 2024

Mathematicians have disproved a major conjecture about the relationship between curvature and shape.

Mathematicians Marvel at ‘Crazy’ Cuts Through Four Dimensions

April 22, 2024

Topologists prove two new results that bring some order to the confoundingly difficult study of four-dimensional shapes.

Topologists Tackle the Trouble With Poll Placement

March 26, 2024

Mathematicians are using topological abstractions to find places where it’s hard to vote.

A New Agenda for Low-Dimensional Topology

February 22, 2024

This past October, dozens of mathematicians gathered in Pasadena to create the third version of “Kirby’s list” — a compendium of the most important unsolved problems in the field.

Unfolding the Mysteries of Polygonal Billiards

February 15, 2024

The surprisingly subtle geometry of a familiar game shows how quickly math gets complicated.

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