Katie has a PhD in maths, specializing in the intersection of dynamical systems and number theory. She reports on topics from maths and history to society and animals. Katie has a PhD in maths, ...

Here’s a simple-sounding problem: Imagine a circular fence that encloses one acre of grass. If you tie a goat to the inside of the fence, how long a rope do you need to allow the animal access to ...

DeepMind has used a large language model (LLM) to generate a novel solution to one of humanity’s toughest math problems — in a breakthrough that could herald a new era in AI development. The model, ...

A math problem delineating the largest-size sofa that can fit around a corner has finally been solved, though it may not help you move. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an ...

This story originally appeared in the February 2025 issue of Texas Monthly as part of our public-education feature, “What Our Schools Actually Need.” Humans have been learning math for thousands of ...

The question of how three objects can form a stable orbit around each other has troubled mathematicians for more than 300 years, but now researchers have found a record 12,000 orbital arrangements ...

Alan Veliz-Cuba has received funding from the Simons Foundation and the American Mathematical Society for some of his research. You can probably think of a time when you’ve used math to solve an ...

For all of the recent strides we’ve made in the math world—like a supercomputer finally solving the Sum of Three Cubes problem that puzzled mathematicians for 65 years—we’re forever crunching ...

Mathematics is the foundation of countless sciences, allowing us to model things like planetary orbits, atomic motion, signal frequencies, protein folding, and more. Moreover, it’s a valuable testbed ...

Mathematicians have long pondered the reach of a grazing goat tied to a fence, only finding approximate answers until now. Here’s a simple-sounding problem: Imagine a circular fence that encloses one ...