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Mathematics

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Math’s ‘Game of Life’ Reveals Long-Sought Repeating Patterns

January 18, 2024

John Conway’s Game of Life, a famous cellular automaton, has been found to have periodic patterns of every possible length.

Q&A

The Mathematician Who Finds the Poetry in Math and the Math in Poetry

January 12, 2024

The links between math, music and art have been explored for thousands of years. Sarah Hart is now turning a mathematical eye to literature.

Mathematicians Identify the Best Versions of Iconic Shapes

January 5, 2024

Researchers are discovering the shortest knots and fattest Möbius strips, among other “optimal shapes.”

Q&A

The ‘Accidental Activist’ Who Changed the Face of Mathematics

January 3, 2024

Throughout her 60-year career, Lenore Blum has developed new perspectives on logic and computation while championing women in mathematics and computer science. Now consciousness is on her mind.

The Year in Math

December 22, 2023

Landmark results in Ramsey theory and a remarkably simple aperiodic tile capped a year of mathematical delight and discovery.

A Close-Up View Reveals the ‘Melting’ Point of an Infinite Graph

December 18, 2023

Just as ice melts to water, graphs undergo phase transitions. Two mathematicians showed that they can pinpoint such transitions by examining only local structure.

A Triplet Tree Forms One of the Most Beautiful Structures in Math

December 12, 2023

The Markov numbers reveal the secrets of irrational numbers and the patterns of the Fibonacci sequence. But there’s one question about them that has resisted proof for over a century.

‘A-Team’ of Math Proves a Critical Link Between Addition and Sets

December 6, 2023

A team of four prominent mathematicians, including two Fields medalists, proved a conjecture described as a “holy grail of additive combinatorics.”

An Easy-Sounding Problem Yields Numbers Too Big for Our Universe

December 4, 2023

Researchers prove that navigating certain systems of vectors is among the most complex computational problems.

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