Math

A puzzle about dots on a page led to one of the most profound areas of modern math

Folding a piece of paper makes it thicker. How many folds would it take to reach the moon—and beyond?

OpenAI released 10 AI-generated results over the weekend. Some mathematicians are unhappy with their approach

A solution to part of the Cohen-Lenstra conjecture helps resolve a long-standing mystery about quadratic forms

Wormholes are one way that physicists have imagined traveling into the past. But if something gets there, is it physically possible to change anything?

Physicists, mathematicians and philosophers have been exploring the possibility of going forward to the future or back to the past

When the roads get crowded, many drivers start changing lanes. Mathematics suggests this intuition is typically wrong

Joan Birman popularized the Burau representation problem decades ago. Now she and two colleagues have a proof that reveals brand new insights into the geometry of braids

The 2026 Fields Medals recognize breakthroughs in the math of messy fluids, tangled knots, spinning pencils, and more

In an episode of the cartoon, a machine lets characters swap bodies, but they can’t switch back with the same person. Math helps all the characters return to their original bodies

A new breakthrough pushes the limits of randomness, bringing a decades-old mathematical mystery closer to resolution

What’s the secret to prompting an AI to solve math problems that have left humans stumped? Tell it to believe in itself