Today, people use complex computing networks to search for prime numbers with millions of digits. But early mathematicians were running these calculations by hand.
What do Sudoku, AI, Rubik’s cubes, clocks and molecules have in common? They can all be reimagined as algebraic equations.
Mathematicians once turned up their noses at imaginary numbers. But complex analysis actually simplifies math and physics.
Here’s a game: Tell a friend to give you any number and you’ll return one that’s bigger. Just add ‘1’ to whatever number they come up with and you’re sure to win.
How did the letter x get its enduring role as a symbol of the unknown? A mathematician explains why it’s hard to say for sure.
Your blood can hold a record of past illnesses. That information can reveal how many people have had a certain infection – like 58% of Americans having had COVID-19 by the end of February 2022.
The brain can count small numbers or compare large ones. But it struggles to understand the value of a single large number. This fact may be influencing how people react to numbers about the pandemic.
Numerology ties in with how our brains work, but that doesn’t mean its claims make sense.
A century after publishing major papers in theoretical mathematics, German-born Emmy Noether continues to challenge and inspire mathematicians with her story and mathematical legacy.
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