Over the course of my 25-year career in the mathematical optimization software industry, I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve been asked this question: “Can you tell me what mathematical ...

Every mathematician has a story that goes something like this. You’re at a party, and someone asks what you do for a living. “I’m a mathematician,” you say. “You must be a genius!” they reply. Or ...

It’s surprisingly difficult to prove one of the most basic properties of a number: whether it can be written as a fraction. A broad new method can help settle this ancient question. In June 1978, the ...

Mathematics might be more of an environmental science than we realize. Even though it is a search for eternal truths, many mathematical concepts trace their origins to everyday experience. Astrology ...

Math isn’t just about following rules. It’s about figuring out why they exist, and if there’s a way to break them. The following is an excerpt from Is Math Real?: How Simple Questions Lead Us to ...