Two mathematicians have proved that a straightforward question — how hard is it to untie a knot? — has a complicated answer.

MIT Department of Mathematics researchers David Roe '06 and Andrew Sutherland '90, PhD '07 are among the inaugural recipients ...

This is a preview. Log in through your library . Abstract We construct a counterexample to the "hot spots" conjecture; there exists a bounded connected planar domain (with two holes) such that the ...

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 arranged the cards in precisely that order. Although ...

Philanthropist and billionaire heiress Liz Simons, who donated $250,000 to New Yorkers for Lower Costs, a PAC supporting Democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani, oversees a foundation that is reportedly ...

The billionaire heiress who recently donated $250,000 to a super PAC supporting socialist Zohran Mamdani’s NYC mayoral campaign is bankrolling a national push to bring “woke math” into public schools ...

Baltimore — Imagine you’re a character in a math problem. You have three platters, but two cakes. All three platters need to have the same amount of cake. How would you split it? Without even saying ...

More for You Epstein Files Drop Shake Up Trump Admin Trailer full of guns and ammo bound for Mexico stopped at border Bank of America announces huge shift in Fed rate cut forecast Macaulay Culkin ...

Trump promised ‘no tax on Social Security’ in his One Big Beautiful Bill Act. This Democratic bill could actually do it. Homebuyers backing out of purchase agreements at record rates Bruce Willis ...

High schoolers’ reading and math scores dropped to the lowest level in decades, along with declines in science scores from eighth graders, according to the National Assessment of Education Progress ...

A mere one in five (22%) seniors tested as "proficient" in math, and just a third (35%) in reading. Seventyfour - stock.adobe.com Here’s one more reason to detest teacher unions and other special ...

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 problems underpin the ...