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How Nature Solves Problems Through Computation
...what is the right way to represent this problem mathematically?” It’s always a combination of the data, these discussions, and the math on the board that leads us to a...
Pentagon Tiling Proof Solves Century-Old Math Problem
A French mathematician has completed the classification of all convex pentagons, and therefore all convex polygons, that tile the plane. One of the oldest problems in geometry asks which shapes...
Marjorie Rice’s Secret Pentagons
...column in Scientific American about tiling, a problem that has fascinated mathematicians since ancient Greek times. The problem, as Martin Gardner explained in the column, asks which shapes “tile” the...
The Illuminating Geometry of Viruses
...inactivated viruses. Twarock’s mathematical work also has applications beyond viruses. Govind Menon, a mathematician at Brown University, is exploring self-assembling micro- and nanotechnologies. “The mathematical literature on synthetic self-assembly is...
Kaisa Matomäki Dreams of Primes
...attend a boarding school that specialized in math instruction, and as a senior she won first prize in a national mathematics competition. When she began serious mathematical research as a...
The Beautiful Mathematical Explorations of Maryam Mirzakhani
...as “unrelatable and incomprehensible,” given that they were “math challenged.” However, Maryam was the opposite of unrelatable. She reminded us, in words and actions, that mathematical ideas can be understood...
New Shapes Solve Infinite Pool-Table Problem
...related Abstractions post: Why Mathematicians Like to Classify Things “They are like these rare jewels,” said Curt McMullen, a mathematician at Harvard University and a co-author of the work along...
The Math That Promises to Make the World Brighter
...(LEDs are already efficient, but they could be a lot more so). My latest story, “Mathematicians Tame Rogue Waves, Lighting Up Future of LEDs,” is about a mathematical discovery that...
Why Math Is the Best Way to Make Sense of the World
...follows. Where does your passion for mathematics and quantitative thought come from? As a young person I never thought I liked math. I absolutely loved number sequences and other curious...