Mathematics World Mourns Maryam Mirzakhani, Only Woman to Win Fields Medal
The brilliant Stanford professor, killed by breast cancer at 40, worked with shapes unconstrained by the real world
Math911 articles archived since 1845
What Are Mixed Fractions?
How do they work? And how can you turn them into improper fractions? Keep on reading to find out!
4 More FAQs about Percentages
How do you quickly calculate 25 percent of a number? Or 33 percent of a number? And how can you quickly calculate percentage increases?
Nil Communication: How to Send a Message without Sending Anything at All
Physicists have exploited the laws of quantum mechanics to send information without transmitting a signal. But have they, really?
Keep Rolling Luggage Upright with Physics
A team of physicists has revealed why rolling suitcases start rocking from wheel to wheel—and how to avoid that frustrating phenomenon. Christopher Intagliata reports.
How a Math Formula Could Decide the Fate of Endangered U.S. Species
Feds consider “conservation triage” that would let some animals go extinct to save funds for protecting others
The Maths of Life and Death: Our Secret Weapon in the Fight against Disease
Mathematics is increasingly integral to biology as more detailed experiments in recent years have led to a huge influx in biological data
How Mother Nature and a Pentagon Mathematician Created the World's Largest Instrument
The Great Stalacpipe Organ operates by rhythmically striking 37 different stalactites scattered across the 3.5-acre cave
The Mathematicians Who Want to Save Democracy
With algorithms in hand, scientists try to make U.S. elections more representative
How to Use Math to Fly Rockets to Space
What does it really mean for a satellite to orbit the Earth? What’s the math behind it? And what’s the math behind the rockets that get those satellites into orbit? Keep on reading to find out!
Is There a Link between Music and Math?
Nadine Gaab, an associate professor of pediatrics at Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, and Jennifer Zuk, a doctoral student at Harvard University, answer:
The Sneaky Danger of Space Dust
When tiny particles of space debris slam into satellites, the collision could cause the emission of hardware-frying radiation. Christopher Intagliata reports.
Shoelace Study Untangles a Knotty Problem
Researchers have trotted out data that show a combination of whipping and stomping forces is what causes laces to unravel without warning. Karen Hopkin reports.
The Simple Math behind Crunching the Sizes of Crowds
How large was the crowd at the recent U.S. presidential inauguration? Or the inauguration eight years ago? Keep on reading to find out how crowd sizes are estimated
![Watch Live Today: Exploring Pure Mathematics Through Baking [Video]](/sciam/cache/file/1D387B7E-D70C-49F4-AE15882BB569F990_small.jpg)
Watch Live Today: Exploring Pure Mathematics Through Baking [Video]
Mathematician Eugenia Cheng will describe how cooking can offer insight into abstract math
Mathematicians Create Warped Worlds in Virtual Reality
Immersive experience set to become accessible to all
Wavelet Theory Nets Top Mathematics Award
Yves Meyer wins the Abel Prize for development of a theory with applications ranging from watching movies to detecting gravitational waves
Chaotic Orbits Could Cause Catastrophic Collision
Researchers used ancient climate cycles to confirm the solar system’s chaotic planetary orbits. An Earth–Mars collision is one distant outcome. Julia Rosen reports.
Human Body Ratios
A project that measures up
New Number Systems Seek Their Lost Primes
For centuries mathematicians tried to solve problems by adding new values to the usual numbers. Now they’re investigating the unintended consequences of that tinkering
