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Erica Klarreich

Contributing Correspondent

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illustration of four six-sided green dice covered in different numbers, with orange arrows connecting some of the dice
combinatorics

Mathematicians Roll Dice and Get Rock-Paper-Scissors

By Erica Klarreich
January 19, 2023
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Mathematicians have uncovered a surprising wealth of rock-paper-scissors-like patterns in randomly chosen dice.

number theory

Mathematical Trio Advances Centuries-Old Number Theory Problem

By Erica Klarreich
November 29, 2022
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The work — the first-ever limit on how many whole numbers can be written as the sum of two cubed fractions — makes significant headway on “a recurring embarrassment for number theorists.”

geometry

‘Monumental’ Math Proof Solves Triple Bubble Problem and More

By Erica Klarreich
October 6, 2022
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The decades-old Sullivan’s conjecture, about the best way to minimize the surface area of a bubble cluster, was thought to be out of reach for three bubbles and up — until a new breakthrough result.

Richard Rusczyk standing in front of a yellow wall in an Art of Problem Solving classroom in San Diego.
education

The Math Evangelist Who Preaches Problem-Solving

By Erica Klarreich
September 13, 2022
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Richard Rusczyk, founder of Art of Problem Solving, has a vision for bringing “joyous, beautiful math” — and problem-solving — to classrooms everywhere.

2022 Fields and Abacus Medals

A Solver of the Hardest Easy Problems About Prime Numbers

By Erica Klarreich
July 5, 2022
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On his way to winning a Fields Medal, James Maynard has cut a path through simple-sounding questions about prime numbers that have stumped mathematicians for centuries.

Maryna Viazovska seated on the wooden steps of an amphitheater at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne.
2022 Fields and Abacus Medals

In Times of Scarcity, War and Peace, a Ukrainian Finds the Magic in Math

By Thomas Lin +1 authors
Erica Klarreich
July 5, 2022
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With her homeland mired in war, the sphere-packing number theorist Maryna Viazovska has become the second woman to win a Fields Medal in the award’s 86-year history.

Aerial view of a complicated interchange full of flowing traffic
networks

Researchers Achieve ‘Absurdly Fast’ Algorithm for Network Flow

By Erica Klarreich
June 8, 2022
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Computer scientists can now solve a decades-old problem in practically the time it takes to write it down.

Five mountain landscapes on floating scrolls representing possible cryptographic worlds.
cryptography

Which Computational Universe Do We Live In?

By Erica Klarreich
April 18, 2022
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Cryptographers want to know which of five possible worlds we inhabit, which will reveal whether truly secure cryptography is even possible.

Illustration of a figure standing between broken orange walls and a blue unbreakable wall with a broken sledgehammer beside it
computational complexity

Researchers Identify ‘Master Problem’ Underlying All Cryptography

By Erica Klarreich
April 6, 2022
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The existence of secure cryptography depends on one of the oldest questions in computational complexity.


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About the author

Erica Klarreich has been writing about mathematics and science for more than 15 years. She has a doctorate in mathematics from Stony Brook University and is a graduate of the Science Communication Program at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Her work has been reprinted in The Best Writing on Mathematics 2010 and The Best Writing on Mathematics 2011.
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