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geometry

Quantized Academy

The Crooked Geometry of Round Trips

By Patrick Honner
January 13, 2021
Read Later

Imagine if we lived on a cube-shaped Earth. How would you find the shortest path around the world?

2020 in Review

The Year in Math and Computer Science

By Bill Andrews
December 23, 2020
Read Later

Even as mathematicians and computer scientists proved big results in computational complexity, number theory and geometry, computers proved themselves increasingly indispensable in mathematics.

Illustration of a black goat with a red leash, grazing at the intersection of two circles
geometry

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

By Steve Nadis
December 9, 2020
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Mathematicians have long pondered the reach of a grazing goat tied to a fence, only finding approximate answers until now.

Graphical model of a cubic earth.
geophysics

Scientists Uncover the Universal Geometry of Geology

By Joshua Sokol
November 19, 2020
Read Later

An exercise in pure mathematics has led to a wide-ranging theory of how the world comes together.

Quantized Academy

Some Math Problems Seem Impossible. That Can Be a Good Thing.

By Patrick Honner
November 18, 2020
Read Later

Struggling with math problems that can’t be solved helps us better understand the ones we can.

Harvard professor L. Mahadevan stands in a slightly cluttered office, holding an apple and a jar containing a miniature brain
Q&A

A Scientist Who Delights in the Mundane

By Steve Nadis
October 26, 2020
Read Later

From crumpled paper to termite mounds to three-sided coins, L. Mahadevan has turned the whole world into his laboratory.

An abstract illustration showing broken tools, cubes, numbers and other abstract representations of impossible math
Quantized Columns

When Math Gets Impossibly Hard

By David S. Richeson
September 14, 2020
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Mathematicians have long grappled with the reality that some problems just don’t have solutions.

Q&A

Conducting the Mathematical Orchestra From the Middle

By Rachel Crowell
September 2, 2020
Read Later

Emily Riehl is rewriting the foundations of higher category theory while also working to make mathematics more inclusive.

An illustration of an ant walking in a straight line around a dodecahedron.
Abstractions blog

Mathematicians Report New Discovery About the Dodecahedron

By Erica Klarreich
August 31, 2020
Read Later

Three mathematicians have resolved a fundamental question about straight paths on the 12-sided Platonic solid.


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