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Mathematics
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The Strange Numbers That Birthed Modern Algebra
The 19th-century discovery of numbers called “quaternions” gave mathematicians a way to describe rotations in space, forever changing physics and math.
Tinkertoy Models Produce New Geometric Insights
An upstart field that simplifies complex shapes is letting mathematicians understand how those shapes depend on the space in which you visualize them.
The Universal Pattern Popping Up in Math, Physics and Biology
Quanta’s In Theory video series returns with an exploration of a mysterious mathematical pattern found throughout nature.
How Network Math Can Help You Make Friends
Studying the structure of existing friendships in your community can help you forge the best connections when forming a new circle of friends.
Evolutionary Math and Just-So Stories
Evolutionary stories like the grandmother hypothesis are easy to construct from mathematical models, but how well do they reflect reality?
A Number Theorist Who Bridges Math and Time
Akshay Venkatesh, a former prodigy who struggled with the genius stereotype, has won a Fields Medal for his “profound contributions to an exceptionally broad range of subjects in mathematics.”
A Poet of Computation Who Uncovers Distant Truths
The theoretical computer scientist Constantinos Daskalakis has won the Rolf Nevanlinna Prize for explicating core questions in game theory and machine learning.
A Master of Numbers and Shapes Who Is Rewriting Arithmetic
The 30-year-old math sensation Peter Scholze is now one of the youngest Fields medalists for “the revolution that he launched in arithmetic geometry.”
An Innovator Who Brings Order to an Infinitude of Equations
The mathematician Caucher Birkar was born on a subsistence farm and raised in the middle of the brutal war between Iran and Iraq. After fleeing to England, he has gone on to impose order on a wild landscape of mathematical equations.