Images of plants painted on pottery made up to 8,000 years ago may be the earliest example of humans’ mathematical thought, a ...

When Hermann von Helmholtz was a small child in early nineteenth-century Prussia, he walked through his hometown of Potsdam with his mother. Passing a stand containing small dolls aligned in a row, he ...

What did you dream of doing when you were 16 years old? I wanted to drive a car and travel the world. But American mathematician Ray Solomonoff had more ambitious goals at that age. He wanted to find ...

“The nail and hammer are fundamental to the manufacture of chairs, tables, stools, cabinets, and other varied items. So are certain ‘Mathematical Formulas or Relationships’ to the solution of diverse ...

On a crisp fall New England day during my junior year of college, I was walking past a subway entrance when a math problem caught my eye. A man was standing near a few brainteasers he had scribbled on ...

Representation theory was initially dismissed. Today, it’s central to much of mathematics. When representation theory emerged in the late 19th century, many mathematicians questioned its worth. In ...

Machine learning is revolutionizing fundamental science by tackling long-standing mathematical challenges. A key example is ...

Carleton University provides funding as a member of The Conversation CA. Carleton University provides funding as a member of The Conversation CA-FR. Almost 400 years ago, in The Assayer, Galileo wrote ...

Mona Lisa’s smile. Mary Lou Retton’s Olympic vault. Mariah Carey’s musical pitch. All are considered perfect. So are the numbers 6 and 28. With feats of artistry and athleticism, perfection lies in ...