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David S. Richeson

Contributing Columnist

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The Journey to Define Dimension

By David S. Richeson
September 13, 2021
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The concept of dimension seems simple enough, but mathematicians struggled for centuries to precisely define and understand it.

Illustration showing a human figure sitting on a large straw, gazing at different topological figures.
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Topology 101: The Hole Truth

By David S. Richeson
January 26, 2021
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The relationships among the properties of flexible shapes have fascinated mathematicians for centuries.

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When Math Gets Impossibly Hard

By David S. Richeson
September 14, 2020
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Mathematicians have long grappled with the reality that some problems just don’t have solutions.

About the author

David S. Richeson is a professor of mathematics and the John J. & Ann Curley Faculty Chair in the Liberal Arts at Dickinson College. He is the author of Tales of Impossibility: The 2000-Year Quest to Solve the Mathematical Problems of Antiquity and Euler’s Gem: The Polyhedron Formula and the Birth of Topology.

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