We care about your data, and we'd like to use cookies to give you a smooth browsing experience. Please agree and read more about our privacy policy.
Quanta Homepage
  • Physics
  • Mathematics
  • Biology
  • Computer Science
  • Topics
  • Archive

What's up in

combinatorics

Latest Articles

A visual argument explaining why the Ramsey number of three is six.
graph theory

A Very Big Small Leap Forward in Graph Theory

By Leila Sloman
May 2, 2023
Comment
Read Later

Four mathematicians have found a new upper limit to the “Ramsey number,” a crucial property describing unavoidable structure in graphs.

A complex machine produces prime numbers onto a conveyor belt that winds backwards into infinity.
number theory

Why Mathematicians Re-Prove What They Already Know

By Anna Kramer
April 26, 2023
Comment
Read Later

It’s been known for thousands of years that the primes go on forever, but new proofs give fresh insights into how theorems depend on one another.

combinatorics

The Number 15 Describes the Secret Limit of an Infinite Grid

By Kevin Hartnett
April 20, 2023
Comment
Read Later

The “packing coloring” problem asks how many numbers are needed to fill an infinite grid so that identical numbers never get too close to one another. A new computer-assisted proof finds a surprisingly straightforward answer.

combinatorics

Mathematicians Find Hidden Structure in a Common Type of Space

By Jordana Cepelewicz
April 12, 2023
Comment
Read Later

In 50 years of searching, mathematicians found only one example of a “subspace design” in a vector space. A new proof reveals that there are infinitely more out there.

An illustration of a sequence that avoid arithmetic progression, shown as a blue staircase jumping among numbers from one to forty.
combinatorics

Surprise Computer Science Proof Stuns Mathematicians

By Leila Sloman
March 21, 2023
Comment
Read Later

For decades, mathematicians have been inching forward on a problem about which sets contain evenly spaced patterns of three numbers. Last month, two computer scientists blew past all of those results.

A panoply of colored fractions
combinatorics

Coloring by Numbers Reveals Arithmetic Patterns in Fractions

By Leila Sloman
March 15, 2023
Comment
Read Later

In a recent paper, two mathematicians showed that a particular pattern is unavoidable when fractions are categorized.

illustration of four six-sided green dice covered in different numbers, with orange arrows connecting some of the dice
combinatorics

Mathematicians Roll Dice and Get Rock-Paper-Scissors

By Erica Klarreich
January 19, 2023
Comment
Read Later

Mathematicians have uncovered a surprising wealth of rock-paper-scissors-like patterns in randomly chosen dice.

Illustration of Russian dolls sitting inside a larger Russian doll.
combinatorics

Google Researcher, Long Out of Math, Cracks Problem About Sets

By Kevin Hartnett
January 3, 2023
Comment
Read Later

On nights and weekends, Justin Gilmer attacked an old question in pure math using the tools of information theory.

2022 in Review

The Year in Math

By Konstantin Kakaes
December 22, 2022
Comment
Read Later

Four Fields Medals were awarded for major breakthroughs in geometry, combinatorics, statistical physics and number theory, even as mathematicians continued to wrestle with how computers are changing the discipline.


Previous
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • ...
  • 7
Next
Follow Quanta
Facebook
Facebook

Twitter
Twitter

Youtube
YouTube

Instagram
Instagram

RSS
RSS

Newsletter

Past Month

Most Read Articles

This Data is Current Loading...
This Data is Current Loading...
This Data is Current Loading...
The Quanta Newsletter

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

Recent newsletters
Quanta Homepage
Facebook
Twitter
Youtube
Instagram

  • About Quanta
  • Archive
  • Contact Us
  • Terms & Conditions
  • Privacy Policy
  • Simons Foundation
All Rights Reserved © 2023