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How to Solve Our Three John Conway-Inspired Puzzles
A numerical puzzle, a geometric puzzle and a game of random patterns — all with connections to the legendary mathematician — elicited an enthusiastic response from readers.
Scientists Uncover the Universal Geometry of Geology
An exercise in pure mathematics has led to a wide-ranging theory of how the world comes together.
Some Math Problems Seem Impossible. That Can Be a Good Thing.
Struggling with math problems that can’t be solved helps us better understand the ones we can.
Searching Symbols for the Rules of Change
Bryna Kra searches for the patterns in sequences of numbers that explain how complicated dynamical systems evolve over time.
Computer Scientists Achieve ‘Crown Jewel’ of Cryptography
A cryptographic master tool called indistinguishability obfuscation has for years seemed too good to be true. Three researchers have figured out that it can work.
Inside the Secret Math Society Known Simply as Nicolas Bourbaki
For almost a century, the anonymous members of Nicolas Bourbaki have written books intended as pure expressions of mathematical thought.
Disorder Persists in Larger Graphs, New Math Proof Finds
David Conlon and Asaf Ferber have raised the lower bound for multicolor “Ramsey numbers,” which quantify how big graphs can get before patterns inevitably emerge.
A Scientist Who Delights in the Mundane
From crumpled paper to termite mounds to three-sided coins, L. Mahadevan has turned the whole world into his laboratory.
An Infinite Universe of Number Systems
The p-adics form an infinite collection of number systems based on prime numbers. They’re at the heart of modern number theory.