Mathematician Who Tamed Randomness Wins Abel Prize
Michel Talagrand innovative work has allowed others to tackle problems involving random processes
Math
Do the Digits of Pi Actually Contain All of Shakespeare?
If pi is a “normal” number, the constant would contain much more than Shakespeare, resolving why such a random-looking number lives at the heart of simple circles
The Simplest Math Problem Could Be Unsolvable
The Collatz conjecture has plagued mathematicians for decades—so much so that professors warn their students away from it
How a Classic Bridge-Crossing Puzzle Inspired New Math
Are you smarter than an 18th-century Prussian?
The Decimal Point Is 150 Years Older than Historians Thought
The origin of the decimal point, a powerful calculation tool, has been traced back to a mathematician who lived during the Italian Renaissance
The Strangely Serious Implications of Math’s ‘Ham Sandwich Theorem’
A simple solution to gerrymandering crumbles when confronted with math’s “ham sandwich theorem”
Secret Mathematical Patterns Revealed in Bach’s Music
Physicists found that the music of Johann Sebastian Bach contains mathematical patterns that help convey information
Surreal Numbers Are a Real Thing. Here’s How to Make Them
In the 1970s mathematicians found a simple way to create all numbers, from the infinitely small to infinitely large
How String Theory Solved Math’s Monstrous Moonshine Problem
A concept from theoretical physics helped confirm the strange connection between two completely different areas of mathematics
Tomorrow’s Quantum Computers Threaten Today’s Secrets. Here’s How to Protect Them
Researchers are racing to create codes so complex that even quantum computers can’t break them
These Numbers Look Random but Aren’t, Mathematicians Prove
A new mathematical proof helps show whether a sequence of numbers is “pseudorandom”
A Wild Claim about the Powers of Pi Creates a Transcendental Mystery
Mathematicians cannot determine whether multiplying pi by itself repeatedly might produce a whole number