The SciencesMay 1, 2019
I Can Has Numberz?
Mathematicians can be adorably ignorant
Stories by Evelyn Lamb
Evelyn Lamb is a freelance math and science writer based in Salt Lake City, Utah.
The SciencesApril 25, 2019
“Like All Good Stories, It Starts with Pigeons”
Suresh Venkatasubramanian tells us about one of the most important tools he uses to root out algorithmic bias
The SciencesApril 11, 2019
Why Mirror Symmetry Is Like Fancy Ramen
Ursula Whitcher tells us why she loves this physics-inspired branch of mathematics
The SciencesApril 2, 2019
Why Isn't 1 a Prime Number?
And how long has it been a number?
The SciencesMarch 28, 2019
Five Reasons to Love the Pythagorean Theorem
Middle school math teacher Fawn Nguyen tells us why a classic right triangle fact is her favorite mathematical result
The SciencesMarch 19, 2019
The Mathematical Phrase that Melts My Brain
What the heck does “three times less than” mean?
The SciencesMarch 14, 2019
The Theorem That Unites Different Kinds of Calculus
Robert Ghrist shares a beautiful link between exponentiation, differentiation and shift
The SciencesMarch 2, 2019
The Tragedy of Infinite Tic-Tac-Toe
How many X’s Can You Fit in a Plane?
The SciencesFebruary 28, 2019
Pinning Down Uncertainty
Cynthia Flores describes how Heisenberg’s famous principle has shaped her mathematical career and worldview
The SciencesFebruary 14, 2019
The Couple That Studies the Intermediate Value Theorem Together Stays Together
Mathematicians Nikita Nikolaev and Beatriz Navarro Lameda share their favorite theorem and their mathematics-themed wedding
The SciencesFebruary 13, 2019
The Voices of Black Mathematicians
Black History Month in the U.S. is a good time to celebrate these important people
The SciencesJanuary 31, 2019
Even Kids Can Understand That Algorithms Can Be Biased
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is right: machines can lead to racist outcomes
The SciencesJanuary 24, 2019
The Butterfly Effect and Jamaican Cuisine
Nira Chamberlain, the World's Most Interesting Mathematician, describes the delicate mathematics of weather models
The SciencesJanuary 10, 2019
The Unknowability of the Number Line
Skip Garibaldi tells us about the numbers we can never describe
The SciencesJanuary 1, 2019
How to Celebrate Thirdsday
A new mathematical holiday celebrates an underappreciated fraction
The SciencesDecember 27, 2018
The Theorem That Inspired a Novel
Literary mathematician Michèle Audin tells us why Stokes’ formula is her favorite theorem
The SciencesDecember 26, 2018
How to Memorize the Largest Known Prime
It may seem daunting to memorize a 24-million-digit number, but with these tips you'll be well on your way
The SciencesDecember 22, 2018
Women Mathematicians in Their Own Words
The Journeys of Women in Mathematics documentary diversifies the stories we tell about women in math
The SciencesDecember 13, 2018
Assigning Value to Teamwork
Mathematician Anil Venkatesh tells us why the Shapley value is the best way to quantify everything from Security Council vetoes to video game weapons
The SciencesDecember 5, 2018
Counterexamples in Music Theory
Personal closure on an attempted theorem about 12-tone music
The SciencesNovember 30, 2018
What Are the Odds of a Family with 14 Boys?
I heard about a 14-boy Michigan family, so I crunched some numbers
The SciencesNovember 29, 2018
Graph Theory and Cocktail Parties
Science writer Yen Duong tells us why she loves the "friends and strangers" theorem
The SciencesNovember 8, 2018
The Queen of the Fold-and-Cut Alphabet
Manchester mathematician Katie Steckles tells us about her favorite theorem and how she used it to help design a new font
The SciencesOctober 31, 2018
If Mathematicians Were in Charge of Punctuation
Better living through set-builder notation