Math

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We summarize the week's science breakthroughs every Thursday.

  1. Math

    Spinning to a Rolling Stop

    Spin a coin on a tabletop. As it loses energy and tips toward the surface, the coin begins to roll on its rim, wobbling faster and faster and faster. Toward the end, the coin generates a characteristic rattling sound of rapidly increasing frequency until it suddenly stops with a distinctive shudder. Mathematician H. Keith Moffatt […]

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  2. Math

    A Remarkable Dearth of Primes

    The pursuit of prime numbers–integers evenly divisible only by themselves and 1–can lead to all sorts of curious results and unexpected patterns. In some instances, you may even encounter a mysterious absence of primes. In 1960, Polish mathematician Waclaw Sierpinski (1882–1969) proved that there are infinitely many odd integers k such that k times 2n […]

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  3. Math

    Sound-Byte Math Music

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  4. Math

    Lacing Shoes, Revisited

    What is the best way to lace your shoes? This seemingly simple question, rooted in everyday life, can provoke passionate argument–and prompt a mathematical response. Three common lacing styles. Here are some alternative lacings you could try. The first two work only if your shoes have an even number of eyelet pairs. Watch out, though. […]

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  5. Math

    Lacing Shoes, Revisited

    What is the best way to lace your shoes? This seemingly simple question, rooted in everyday life, can provoke passionate argument–and prompt a mathematical response. Three common lacing styles. Here are some alternative lacings you could try. The first two work only if your shoes have an even number of eyelet pairs. Watch out, though. […]

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  6. Math

    Drama in Numbers

    Several mathematics-rich stage productions of the last few years have not only captivated mathematicians but also attracted diverse and enthusiastic audiences.

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  7. Math

    Drama in Numbers

    Several mathematics-rich stage productions of the last few years have not only captivated mathematicians but also attracted diverse and enthusiastic audiences.

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  8. Math

    Super Bowls and stock markets

    The predictive power of the Super Bowl "theory," which involves an apparent correlation between stock market performance and the results of the National Football League championship game, has declined precipitously in recent years.

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  9. Math

    Pursuing punctured polyhedra

    A mathematician has proved that it's possible to construct a mathematical shape made up of flat faces and straight edges in which every face has a "hole" where the vertex of one constituent polyhedron pokes into the face of another.

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  10. Math

    The Power of Partitions

    Writing a whole number as the sum of smaller numbers springs a mathematical surprise.

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  11. Math

    Punctured Polyhedra

    A tetrahedron. Examples of unacceptable faces. A portion of an infinite lattice of interpenetrating tetrahedra. A tetrahedron has four triangular faces, four vertices, and six edges. Consider what happens when a vertex of one tetrahedron pierces the face of a second tetrahedron to form a new, more complicated polyhedron. In the resulting geometric form, one […]

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  12. Math

    A Trillion Pieces of Pi

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