Steve Nadis

Contributing Writer

Latest Articles

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

July 13, 2022

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

An Ancient Geometry Problem Falls to New Mathematical Techniques

February 8, 2022

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.

Q&A

The Mathematician Who Delights in Building Bridges

November 17, 2021

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

Mathematicians Solve Decades-Old Classification Problem

August 5, 2021

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.

Q&A

A Number Theorist Who Connects Math to Other Creative Pursuits

May 27, 2021

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

New Black Hole Math Closes Cosmic Blind Spot

May 13, 2021

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?

New Proof Reveals That Graphs With No Pentagons Are Fundamentally Different

April 26, 2021

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

Mathematicians Find a New Class of Digitally Delicate Primes

March 30, 2021

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.

After Centuries, a Seemingly Simple Math Problem Gets an Exact Solution

December 9, 2020

Mathematicians have long pondered the reach of a grazing goat tied to a fence, only finding approximate answers until now.

Get highlights of the most important news delivered to your email inbox