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Steve Nadis

Contributing Writer

An illustration with a black disc in the middle evoking a black hole.
mathematical physics

At Long Last, Mathematical Proof That Black Holes Are Stable

By Steve Nadis
August 4, 2022
Read Later

The solutions to Einstein’s equations that describe a spinning black hole won’t blow up, even when poked or prodded.

Illustration of a rotating object that warps the space-time fabric around itself, as seen by eyes located in different places
general relativity

Mass and Angular Momentum, Left Ambiguous by Einstein, Get Defined

By Steve Nadis
July 13, 2022
Read Later

Surprising as it may sound, 107 years after the introduction of general relativity, the meanings of basic concepts are still being worked out.

geometry

An Ancient Geometry Problem Falls to New Mathematical Techniques

By Steve Nadis
February 8, 2022
Read Later

Three mathematicians show, for the first time, how to form a square with the same area as a circle by cutting them into interchangeable pieces that can be visualized.

Color photo of Ana Caraiani in a black coat standing on a bridge
Q&A

The Mathematician Who Delights in Building Bridges

By Steve Nadis
November 17, 2021
Read Later

Ana Caraiani seeks to unify mathematics through her work on the ambitious Langlands program.

Illustration of people along a path classifying colorful mathematical trees
set theory

Mathematicians Solve Decades-Old Classification Problem

By Steve Nadis
August 5, 2021
Read Later

A pair of researchers has shown that trying to classify groups of numbers called “torsion-free abelian groups” is as hard as it can possibly be.

Color photo of Jordan Ellenberg sitting with a laptop by a lake at sunset
Q&A

A Number Theorist Who Connects Math to Other Creative Pursuits

By Steve Nadis
May 27, 2021
Read Later

Jordan Ellenberg enjoys studying — and writing about — the mathematics underlying everyday phenomena.

A looping image of two black holes orbiting one another, with the second one smaller than the first.
mathematical physics

New Black Hole Math Closes Cosmic Blind Spot

By Steve Nadis
May 13, 2021
Read Later

A mathematical shortcut for analyzing black hole collisions works even in cases where it shouldn’t. As astronomers use it to search for new classes of hidden black holes, others wonder: Why?

graph theory

New Proof Reveals That Graphs With No Pentagons Are Fundamentally Different

By Steve Nadis
April 26, 2021
Read Later

Researchers have proved a special case of the Erdős-Hajnal conjecture, which shows what happens in graphs that exclude anything resembling a pentagon.

A graphic showing that changing any of the digits of 505, 447 turns it into a composite number
prime numbers

Mathematicians Find a New Class of Digitally Delicate Primes

By Steve Nadis
March 30, 2021
Read Later

Despite finding no specific examples, researchers have proved the existence of a pervasive kind of prime number so delicate that changing any of its infinite digits renders it composite.


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About the author

Steve Nadis lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts. His articles have appeared in numerous magazines, including Discover and Astronomy. He is co-author, most recently, of The Shape of a Life.

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