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Spotting Quantum Black Holes in the Lab
Can we test speculations about how quantum physics affects black holes and the Big Bang?
How Gödel’s Proof Works
His incompleteness theorems destroyed the search for a mathematical theory of everything. Nearly a century later, we’re still coming to grips with the consequences.
The Math of Social Distancing Is a Lesson in Geometry
How to safely reopen offices, schools and other public spaces while keeping people six feet apart comes down to a question mathematicians have been studying for centuries.
How and Why Computers Roll Loaded Dice
Researchers are one step closer to injecting probability into deterministic machines.
A Number Theorist Who Solves the Hardest Easy Problems
In his rapid ascent to the top of his field, James Maynard has cut a path through simple-sounding questions about prime numbers that have stumped mathematicians for centuries.
The Tricky Math of Herd Immunity for COVID-19
Herd immunity differs from place to place, and many factors influence how it’s calculated.
New Geometric Perspective Cracks Old Problem About Rectangles
While locked down due to COVID-19, Joshua Greene and Andrew Lobb figured out how to prove a version of the “rectangular peg problem.”
The Two Forms of Mathematical Beauty
Mathematicians typically appreciate either generic or exceptional beauty in their work, but one type is more useful in describing the universe.
The ‘Useless’ Perspective That Transformed Mathematics
Representation theory was initially dismissed. Today, it’s central to much of mathematics.