
The Math Trick Hidden in Your Credit Card Number
Find out how this simple algorithm from the 1960s catches your typos

The Math Trick Hidden in Your Credit Card Number
Find out how this simple algorithm from the 1960s catches your typos

How an Unsolved Math Problem Could Train AI to Predict Crises Years in Advance
An artificial intelligence breakthrough uses reinforcement learning to tackle the Andrews-Curtis conjecture, solving long-standing counterexamples and hinting at tools for forecasting stock crashes, diseases and climate disasters


Students Find Hidden Fibonacci Sequence in Classic Probability Puzzle
Though the Fibonacci sequence shows up everywhere in nature, these young mathematicians were surprised to find it in the answer to a variation of the pick-up sticks problem⁠—a nearly two-century-old form of puzzle

AI Took on the Math Olympiad—But Mathematicians Aren’t Impressed
AI models supposedly did well on International Math Olympiad problems, but how they got their answers reminds us why we still need people doing math

How Teen Mathematician Hannah Cairo Disproved a Major Mathematical Wave Conjecture
When she was just 17 years old, Hannah Cairo disproved the Mizohata-Takeuchi conjecture, breaking a four-decade-old mathematical assumption

Some Mathematicians Don’t Believe in Infinity
Can “finitism” possibly describe the real world?

The Impossible Problems Hidden in a Simple Game of Tetris
How complex can a simple game be? Tetris pushes even supercomputers to their limits and amazes mathematicians

The Surprising Math and Physics behind the 2026 World Cup Soccer Ball
Here’s how the new tetrahedron-based design for the “Trionda” soccer ball may affect next year’s big game

How Logical Are You? Test Your Skills With These Problems from the New International Logic Olympiad
In only its second year, the International Logic Olympiad is already booming as logic becomes more and more crucial in our ever changing world

Breakthrough Proof Brings Mathematics Closer to a Grand Unified Theory after More Than 50 Years of Work
The Langlands program has inspired and befuddled mathematicians for more than 50 years. A major advance has now opened up new worlds for them to explore

Math Is Quietly in Crisis over NSF Funding Cuts
A 72 percent reduction in federal funding is devastating to math research. The American Mathematical Society is offering $1 million in backstop grants—but it’s likely not enough

This Number System Beats Binary, But Most Computers Can’t Use It
Why do computers only work with the numbers 0 and 1? There are machines that process three digits with more efficiency than you might expect