The crisp new dollar bill that I have just taken from my wallet bears the serial number 24598176. It’s easy to tell that the number is exactly divisible by 2 but not by 5. Is it divisible by 3? by 4?

In the realm of mathematics, it’s hard to imagine anything more basic than the counting numbers: 1, 2, 3, and so on. Yet this set of mathematical objects abounds with beautiful and unexpected patterns ...

One of my favorite anecdotes about prime numbers concerns Alexander Grothendieck, who was among the most brilliant mathematicians of the 20th century. According to one account, he was once asked to ...

Infinity down, only 69,999,997 to go. New research has proved that prime numbers don't just disappear as numbers get larger — instead, there is an infinite number of prime numbers separated by a ...

Infinity down, only 69,999,997 to go. New research has proven that prime numbers don't just disappear as numbers get larger — instead, there is an infinite number of prime numbers separated by a ...

Randomly scramble the digits 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 to form a seven-digit number (or a six-digit number if the leading digit is 0). Rank the following events in order ...

Anita Ponsaing receives funding from the ARC Centre of Excellence for Mathematical & Statistical Frontiers (ACEMS). Most people will probably remember the times tables from primary school quizzes.