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Set theory

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Google Researcher, Long Out of Math, Cracks Devilish Problem About Sets

January 3, 2023

On nights and weekends, Justin Gilmer attacked an old question in pure math using the tools of information theory.

Elegant Six-Page Proof Reveals the Emergence of Random Structure

April 25, 2022

Two young mathematicians have astonished their colleagues with a full proof of the Kahn-Kalai conjecture — a sweeping statement about how structure emerges in random sets and graphs.

Banach-Tarski and the Paradox of Infinite Cloning

August 26, 2021

One of the strangest results in mathematics explains how it’s possible to turn one sphere into two identical copies, simply by rearranging its pieces.

Mathematicians Solve Decades-Old Classification Problem

August 5, 2021

A pair of researchers has shown that trying to classify groups of numbers called “torsion-free abelian groups” is as hard as it can possibly be.

How Many Numbers Exist? Infinity Proof Moves Math Closer to an Answer.

July 15, 2021

For 50 years, mathematicians have believed that the total number of real numbers is unknowable. A new proof suggests otherwise.

How Gödel’s Proof Works

July 14, 2020

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 Map of Mathematics

February 13, 2020

Explore our surprisingly simple, absurdly ambitious and necessarily incomplete guide to the boundless mathematical universe.

With Category Theory, Mathematics Escapes From Equality

October 10, 2019

Two monumental works have led many mathematicians to avoid the equal sign. The process has not always gone smoothly.

Mathematicians Measure Infinities and Find They’re Equal

September 12, 2017

Two mathematicians have proved that two different infinities are equal in size, settling a long-standing question. Their proof rests on a surprising link between the sizes of infinities and the complexity of mathematical theories.