Latest Articles
The Map of Mathematics
Explore our surprisingly simple, absurdly ambitious and necessarily incomplete guide to the boundless mathematical universe.
Mathematicians Prove Universal Law of Turbulence
By exploiting randomness, three mathematicians have proved an elegant law that underlies the chaotic motion of turbulent systems.
For Fluid Equations, a Steady Flow of Progress
A startling experimental discovery about how fluids behave started a wave of important mathematical proofs.
Famous Fluid Equations Spring a Leak
Researchers have spent centuries looking for a scenario in which the Euler fluid equations fail. Now a mathematician has finally found one.
Mathematician Proves Huge Result on ‘Dangerous’ Problem
Mathematicians regard the Collatz conjecture as a quagmire and warn each other to stay away. But now Terence Tao has made more progress than anyone in decades.
Mathematicians Catch a Pattern by Figuring Out How to Avoid It
We finally know how big a set of numbers can get before it has to contain a pattern known as a “polynomial progression.”
Mathematicians Cut Apart Shapes to Find Pieces of Equations
New work on the problem of “scissors congruence” explains when it’s possible to slice up one shape and reassemble it as another.
Google and IBM Clash Over Milestone Quantum Computing Experiment
Today Google announced that it achieved “quantum supremacy.” Its chief quantum computing rival, IBM, said it hasn’t. The disagreement hinges on what the term really means.
Mathematicians Begin to Tame Wild ‘Sunflower’ Problem
A major advance toward solving the 60-year-old sunflower conjecture is shedding light on how order begins to appear as random systems grow in size.