A famous math problem that has vexed mathematicians for decades has met an elegant solution by Cornell University researchers. Graduate student Yash Lodha, working with Justin Moore, professor of ...

Here’s a simple-sounding problem: Imagine a circular fence that encloses one acre of grass. If you tie a goat to the inside of the fence, how long a rope do you need to allow the animal access to ...

This is an updated version of a story first published on May 5, 2024. For many high school students returning to class, it may seem like geometry and trigonometry were created by the Greeks as a form ...

For all of the recent strides we’ve made in the math world—like a supercomputer finally solving the Sum of Three Cubes problem that puzzled mathematicians for 65 years—we’re forever crunching ...

Looking for some math problem-solving activities for middle school? Good, you’re at the right page then. Right before children enter Middle School (around the age of 11 or 12), they enter a critical ...

Introducing new math concepts via already-worked examples can give students a significant boost in learning. But choosing the right problems makes a big difference. An analysis earlier this year of ...

Math offers us lots of problem-solving techniques that help us distill the essence of questions. Many of us will be familiar with reading a math problem, and needing to figure out what's being asked, ...

Are you smarter than a prospective University of Oxford math student? Have a look at a tough problem from the Oxford application and see how you do. As an elite global university, Oxford has been ...

On August 6, 2010, a computer scientist named Vinay Deolalikar published a paper with a name as concise as it was audacious: “P ≠ NP.” If Deolalikar was right, he had cut one of mathematics’ most ...

Time to test your brain! Are you a puzzle person? Most of these hard math problems aren’t straightforward arithmetic. They challenge you to look at problems a different way, testing your logic and ...

Mathematicians have long pondered the reach of a grazing goat tied to a fence, only finding approximate answers until now. Here’s a simple-sounding problem: Imagine a circular fence that encloses one ...