Stories by Evelyn Lamb

"_______ is the ______ of logical ideas"—Albert Einstein. Do the words "mathematics" or "poetry" fill those blanks?

Math is always better over an orientable genus one pastry, the tastiest of topological examples.

If you ran a race at an average pace of 3:07 per kilometer, did you run any single kilometer in exactly 3:07? Well, it's complicated.

The second annual Breakthrough Prize in Mathematics goes to topologist Ian Agol of the University of California, Berkeley

You might need to leave the light on at night after reading these. Brace yourself for zombies, devils, mummies, and...higher homotopy groups?

The latest (misnamed) "Common Core math" flare-up: is 5 × 3 Five 3s or Three 5s?

The intuition-challenging Fano plane may be the smallest interesting configuration of points and lines.

The epsilon-delta proof, the nemesis of many a calculus student, is an initiation rite into the mysteries of proof writing.

Move over, four-color theorem! It's time for the one-cut theorem: You can cut out any shape you want with one cut if you're willing to do some clever folding

What does it mean to understand a mathematical object? I didn't truly believe in the house with two rooms until I built it for myself.

In his new book Creating Symmetry, Frank Farris uses ideas from advanced mathematics, such as complex analysis and abstract algebra, to transform snapshots of landscapes, flowers, or even his dinner into beautiful repeating designs. 

The provably undrawable line with two origins illustrates a simple but important topological property

The concept of the open set is fundamental in topology. What is it, and why does it matter?

David Madore's online mazes let you explore complicated hyperbolic surfaces from the comfort of your favorite web browser.

Make a yourself or your favorite mathematician into a work of art as a tiling of the hyperbolic plane.

Topology is all about squishing and stretching; distance shouldn't matter. But the infinite earring illustrates the delicate interplay between topology and geometry.

Join me for a workshop on mathematics, temperament, and pitch perception at the Bridges math+art conference in Baltimore.

Are you a neurotic loner or a charismatic cult leader? Try this highly scientific personality test based on a parquet floor from one of Antoni Gaudí's Modernista masterpieces to find out

The Fields Medalist's memoir gives us a glimpse into the emotional highs and lows of being a passionate mathematician.

Fabienne Serriere wants to hack an industrial knitting machine to make cellular automata scarves, and you can back her project on Kickstarter.

Mathematicians, like kleptomaniacs, take things literally. This is the story of how I finally snapped and wrote a strongly worded blog post about why literary disclaimers annoy me.

What do Mozart and modular arithmetic have in common? I used to think I didn't like them. I'm sorry, Mozart and modular arithmetic. Please forgive me.

The mathematical space called Cantor's leaky tent is connected but just barely: remove one point, and the whole thing falls apart.

Bob Bosch and Tom Wexler have developed a new way to make your favorite masterpieces into connect-the-dots puzzles. All you need is a little bit of quantification and a lot of computing time.