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A Design Dilemma Solved, Minus Designs
A 150-year-old conundrum about how to group people has been solved, but many puzzles remain.
Will Computers Redefine the Roots of Math?
The Fields medalist Vladimir Voevodsky has died at 51. This 2015 article describes his computer-aided quest to eliminate human error and rewrite the century-old rules underlying all of mathematics.
For Persi Diaconis’ Next Magic Trick …
A mathematician who has analyzed card shuffling for decades is tackling one final nemesis: “smooshing.”
A Grand Theory of Wrinkles
A collaboration between mechanical engineers and mathematicians has revealed universal rules for how wrinkles form.
After Prime Proof, an Unlikely Star Rises
Two years ago, Yitang Zhang was virtually unknown. Now his surprise solution to a major problem in number theory has catapulted him to mathematical stardom. Where does he go from here?
Mathematicians Chase Moonshine’s Shadow
Researchers are on the trail of a mysterious connection between number theory, algebra and string theory.
Strange Stars Pulse to the Golden Mean
Nature has revealed peculiar mathematical objects that connect order and chaos.
In Fake Universes, Evidence for String Theory
If string theorists can show that their framework is the only consistent theory of quantum gravity, does that make it true even without tangible evidence?
A Proof That Some Spaces Can’t Be Cut
Mathematicians have solved the century-old triangulation conjecture, a major problem in topology that asks whether all spaces can be subdivided into smaller units.