Mathematics
Chimpanzees Could Never Randomly Type the Complete Works of Shakespeare, Study Finds
While testing the "infinite monkey theorem," mathematicians found that the odds of a chimpanzee typing even a short phrase like "I chimp, therefore I am" before the death of the universe are 1 in 10 million billion billion
Two High Schoolers Found an 'Impossible' Proof for a 2,000-Year-Old Math Rule—Then, They Discovered Nine More
Ne’Kiya Jackson and Calcea Johnson of Louisiana published a new study proving the Pythagorean theorem using trigonometry, a feat mathematicians long thought could not be done
Amateur Mathematician Discovers the Largest Known Prime Number, With More Than 41 Million Digits
Called M136279841, the value belongs to a rare class of prime numbers called Mersenne primes and was found using a supercomputer system spread across 17 countries
Mathematicians Discover a New Class of Shape: the 'Soft Cell'
If the structures look familiar, it's probably because nature has been using them for a long time in places like nautilus shells, zebra stripes and onions
'The Starry Night' Accurately Depicts a Scientific Theory That Wasn't Described Until Years After van Gogh's Death
Researchers say that the iconic painting's swirling sky lines up with Kolmogorov's theory of turbulence, suggesting that the artist was a careful observer of the world around him
British Government Places Export Ban on Alan Turing's World War II-Era Notebooks
The mathematician took careful notes while working on a portable voice encryption system in the mid-1940s
Crows Can 'Count' Up to Four Like Human Toddlers, Study Suggests
Three carrion crows engaged in a simplified version of counting when prompted, and the birds showed signs of planning out their responses
Has the Term 'Keystone Species' Lost Its Meaning?
More than 50 years after Bob Paine’s experiment with starfish, hundreds of species have been pronounced “keystones” in their ecosystems
Nikola Tesla and the Tower That Became His 'Million Dollar Folly'
The eccentric inventor's dream of a wireless-transmission tower would prove to be his undoing
Mathematician Who Shed Light on Randomness in Algorithms Wins Top Prize in Computing
Avi Wigderson earned the 2023 Turing Award for wide-ranging work in theoretical computer science
Why Aren't Dolphins in the Great Lakes? And More Questions From Our Readers
You’ve got questions. We’ve got experts
Mathematician Who Made Sense of the Universe's Randomness Wins Math's Top Prize
Michel Talagrand took home the 2024 Abel Prize for his work on stochastic systems, randomness and a proof of a physics reaction that many experts thought was unsolvable
Long Overlooked, This 11th-Century Astronomical Device Documents Scientific Exchange Among Muslims, Jews and Christians
The astrolabe features Hebrew and Latin inscriptions added by different owners over time
The Decimal Point Is 150 Years Older Than Previously Thought, Medieval Manuscript Reveals
A Venetian merchant used the mathematical symbol while calculating the positions of planets between 1441 and 1450
Astronomers Discover Rare Solar System Where Planets Orbit in Mathematical Harmony
The "resonant" planets could provide insight about how such systems form and evolve—and why our own solar system is not synced up
Ten Engineer-Selected STEM Toys to Give as Gifts in 2023
From coding to building to circuitry, these educational activities support basic skills to serve children in science, engineering and beyond
Human Cells Display a Mathematical Pattern That Repeats in Nature and Language
New research suggests adult humans have between 28 trillion and 36 trillion cells, which follow a commonly seen distribution of size and mass
A Brief History of the Letter 'X,' From Algebra to X-Mas to Elon Musk
A math historian explores how "x" came to stand in for an unknown quantity
South Koreans Just Got Younger, Thanks to a New Law
The country previously had three distinct systems for determining age, often leading to confusion
At Long Last, Mathematicians Have Found a Shape With a Pattern That Never Repeats
Experts have searched for decades for a polygon that only makes non-repeating patterns. But no one knew it was possible until now
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