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An Applied Mathematician With an Unexpected Toolbox

March 1, 2023

Lek-Heng Lim uses tools from algebra, geometry and topology to answer questions in machine learning.

Quantum Field Theory Pries Open Mathematical Puzzle

February 16, 2023

Mathematicians have struggled to understand the moduli space of graphs. A new paper uses tools from physics to peek inside.

Mathematicians Eliminate Long-Standing Threat to Knot Conjecture

February 2, 2023

A new proof shows that a knot some thought would contradict the famed slice-ribbon conjecture doesn’t.

The Year in Math

December 22, 2022

Four Fields Medals were awarded for major breakthroughs in geometry, combinatorics, statistical physics and number theory, even as mathematicians continued to wrestle with how computers are changing the discipline.

After a Quantum Clobbering, One Approach Survives Unscathed

December 7, 2022

A quantum approach to data analysis that relies on the study of shapes will likely remain an example of a quantum advantage — albeit for increasingly unlikely scenarios.

Why Mathematicians Study Knots

October 31, 2022

Far from being an abstract mathematical curiosity, knot theory has driven many findings in math and beyond.

The New Math of Wrinkling

September 22, 2022

A comprehensive mathematical framework treats wrinkling patterns as elegant solutions to geometric problems.

Surfaces So Different Even a Fourth Dimension Can’t Make Them the Same

June 16, 2022

For decades mathematicians have searched for a specific pair of surfaces that can’t be transformed into each other in four-dimensional space. Now they’ve found them.

Surfaces Beyond Imagination Are Discovered After Decades-Long Search

June 2, 2022

Using ideas borrowed from graph theory, two mathematicians have shown that extremely complex surfaces are easy to traverse.

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