Quanta MagazineMathematics A Mathematician Whose Only Constant Is ChangeQuanta Magazine - Kevin Hartnett Amie Wilkinson searches for exotic examples of the mathematical structures that describe change.
Quanta MagazineMathematics Why the Proof of Fermat’s Last Theorem Doesn’t Need to Be EnhancedQuanta Magazine - Michael Harris Decades after the landmark proof of Fermat’s Last Theorem, ideas abound for how to make it even more reliable. But such efforts reflect a deep …
Quanta Magazine How Geometry, Data and Neighbors Predict Your Favorite MoviesQuanta Magazine - Patrick Honner A little high school geometry can help you understand the basic math behind movie recommendation engines. Adrienne is a Marvel movie fanatic: Her …
Quanta MagazineMathematics Out of a Magic Math Function, One Solution to Rule Them AllQuanta Magazine - Erica Klarreich Mathematicians used “magic functions” to prove that two highly symmetric lattices solve a myriad of problems in eight- and 24-dimensional space. Three …
Quanta Magazine Quanta MagazineQuanta Magazine - Robbert Dijkgraaf It’s an educated guess, not a proof. But a good conjecture will guide math forward, pointing the way into the mathematical unknown. Mountain climbing …
Quanta MagazineComputer Science Mathematicians Discover the Perfect Way to MultiplyQuanta Magazine - Kevin Hartnett By chopping up large numbers into smaller ones, researchers have rewritten a fundamental mathematical speed limit. Four thousand years ago, the …
Quanta Magazine Usain Bolt’s Split Times and the Power of CalculusQuanta Magazine - Steven Strogatz Just how fast can the fastest human run? This adapted book excerpt from Infinite Powers reveals how calculus helps us investigate the nature of …
Quanta Magazine Proof Finds That All Change Is a Mix of Order and RandomnessQuanta Magazine - Kevin Hartnett All descriptions of change are a unique blend of chance and determinism, according to the sweeping mathematical proof of the “weak Pinsker …
Quanta Magazine Sum-of-Three-Cubes Problem Solved for ‘Stubborn’ Number 33Quanta Magazine - John Pavlus A number theorist with programming prowess has found a solution to 33 = x³ + y³ + z³, a much-studied equation that went unsolved for 64 …
Quanta MagazineMaps Math Duo Maps the Infinite Terrain of Minimal SurfacesQuanta Magazine - Erica Klarreich A pair of mathematicians has built on an obscure, 30-year-old mathematical theory to show that soap-filmlike minimal surfaces appear abundantly in a …
Quanta MagazineMathematics Where Proof, Evidence and Imagination Intersect in Math | Quanta MagazineQuanta Magazine - Patrick Honner In mathematics, where proofs are everything, evidence is important too. But evidence is only as good as the model, and modeling can be dangerous …
Quanta Magazine Möbius Strips Defy a Link With InfinityQuanta Magazine - Evelyn Lamb A new proof shows why an uncountably infinite number of Möbius strips will never fit into a three-dimensional space. In math, three-dimensional space …
Quanta Magazine How to Find Simple Treasures in Complex NumbersQuanta Magazine - Pradeep Mutalik In spite of their name, “imaginary” numbers are as real as any other numbers, especially when it comes to hunting for lost treasure. For our first …
Quanta Magazine Smaller Is Better: Why Finite Number Systems Pack More Punch | Quanta MagazineQuanta Magazine - Kevin Hartnett Recent progress on the “sum product” problem recalls a celebrated mathematical result that revealed the power of miniature number systems. It’s one …
Quanta MagazineMathematics How a Strange Grid Reveals Hidden Connections Between Simple NumbersQuanta Magazine - Kevin Hartnett A long-standing puzzle seems to constrain how addition and multiplication relate to each other. A graduate student has gone further than anyone else …
Quanta MagazinePhysics The Trouble With TurbulenceQuanta Magazine - Michael Moyer Turbulence is everywhere, yet it is one of the most difficult concepts for physicists to understand. Fluids should be easy. They’re ordinary, …
Quanta MagazineMathematics A Movement to Close the Gender Gap in MathematicsQuanta Magazine - Siobhan Roberts The Brazilian mathematician Carolina Araujo, who calls herself “a bit of an anarchist,” is organizing meetings and building a support network to …
Quanta Magazine Unscrambling the Hidden Secrets of Superpermutations | Quanta MagazineQuanta Magazine - Patrick Honner A science fiction novelist and an internet commenter made breakthroughs on a longstanding problem about the number of ways you can arrange a set of …
Quanta Magazine Quanta’s Science and Math Crossword Puzzle | Quanta MagazineQuanta Magazine - Pradeep Mutalik Celebrate a year’s worth of scientific and mathematical insights by solving this brain-teasing cryptic crossword from our puzzle columnist. Last …
Quanta Magazine Quanta’s Year in Math and Computer Science (2018) | Quanta MagazineQuanta Magazine - Michael Moyer Several mathematicians under the age of 30, and amateur problem-solvers of all ages, made significant contributions to some of the most difficult …
Quanta Magazine In the Universe of Equations, Virtually All Are Prime | Quanta MagazineQuanta Magazine - Kevin Hartnett Equations, like numbers, cannot always be split into simpler elements. Researchers have now proved that such “prime” equations become ubiquitous as …
Quanta Magazine Tadashi Tokieda Collects Math and Physics Surprises | Quanta MagazineQuanta Magazine - Erica Klarreich Tadashi Tokieda discovers new physical phenomena by looking at the everyday world with the eyes of a child.
Quanta Magazine New Proof Shows Infinite Curves Come in Two TypesQuanta Magazine - Kevin Hartnett Alexander Smith’s work on the Goldfeld conjecture reveals fundamental characteristics of elliptic curves. Elliptic curves seem to admit infinite …
Quanta Magazine Sci-Fi Writer Greg Egan and Anonymous Math Whiz Advance Permutation Problem | Quanta MagazineQuanta Magazine - Erica Klarreich A new proof from the Australian science fiction writer Greg Egan and a 2011 proof anonymously posted online are now being hailed as significant …
Quanta Magazine Without a Proof, Mathematicians Wonder How Much Evidence Is EnoughQuanta Magazine - Kevin Hartnett A new statistical model appears to undermine long-held assumptions in number theory. How much should it be trusted when all that really matters is …
Quanta Magazine The (Imaginary) Numbers at the Edge of RealityQuanta Magazine - Patrick Honner Odd enough to potentially model the strangeness of the physical world, complex numbers with “imaginary” components are rooted in the familiar. Have …
Quanta Magazine A Proof About Where Symmetries Can’t ExistQuanta Magazine - Kevin Hartnett In a major mathematical achievement, a small team of researchers has proven Zimmer’s conjecture. Success for Robert Zimmer is defined differently …
Quanta MagazineStephen Hawking Evolutionary Math and Just-So StoriesQuanta Magazine - Kevin Hartnett Amie Wilkinson searches for exotic examples of the mathematical structures that describe change. Contrary to popular belief, bacteria have organelles …
Quanta Magazine Why Mathematicians Can’t Find the Hay in a HaystackQuanta Magazine - Kevin Hartnett In math, sometimes the most common things are the hardest to find. The first time I heard a mathematician use the phrase, I was sure he’d misspoken. …
