Browsing: Math

The original version of this story appeared in Quanta Magazine.Hard problems are usually not a welcome sight. But cryptographers love them. That’s because certain hard math…

If you’ve ever shuffled a deck of playing cards, you’ve most likely created a unique deck. That is, you’re probably the only person who has ever…

A few months before the 2025 International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO) in July, a three-person team at OpenAI made a long bet that they could use the…

In 2014 Mura Yakerson, a college student at the time, decided to practice driving in a quiet area in the countryside near Saint Petersburg, Russia. Then…

Draw four lines beginning and ending at the gray points to break this square into pieces that can be rearranged into five identical squares.Show puzzle solutionBonus:…

August 12, 20255 min readThe Math Trick Hidden in Your Credit Card NumberFind out how this simple algorithm from the 1960s keeps your wallet safeBy Jack…

A defining memory from my senior year of high school was a nine-hour math exam with just six questions. Six of the top scorers won slots…

Now, three mathematicians have finally provided such a result. Their work not only represents a major advance in Hilbert’s program, but also taps into questions about…

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

“We mostly believe that all the conjectures are true, but it’s so exciting to see it actually realized,” said Ana Caraiani, a mathematician at Imperial College…