Leila Sloman

Two mathematicians have proven Patterson’s conjecture, which was designed to explain a strange pattern in sums involving prime numbers.

In 1973, Paul Erdős asked if it was possible to assemble sets of “triples” — three points on a graph — so that they abide by two seemingly incompatible rules. A new proof shows it can always be done.

A new proof identifies precisely how large a mathematical graph must be before it contains a regular substructure.

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

“Ribbon concordance” will let mathematicians compare knots by linking them across four-dimensional space.

The famed Navier-Stokes equations can lead to cases where more than one result is possible, but only in an extremely narrow set of situations.

Van der Waerden’s conjecture mystified mathematicians for 85 years. Its solution shows how polynomial roots relate to one another.

A new computer program fashioned after artificial intelligence systems like AlphaGo has solved several open problems in combinatorics and graph theory.

A team of mathematicians has solved an important question about how solutions to polynomial equations relate to sophisticated geometric objects called Shimura varieties.