The Kakeya conjecture predicts how much room you need to point a line in every direction. In one number system after another — with one important exception — mathematicians have been proving it true.

In the early 1970s mathematician Donald Knuth spent a sabbatical with his wife in Norway. The time was meant to be spent relaxing. Yet one night he woke up his partner in a state of agitation. He ...

Want to help your eighth-grader master math? Here are some of the skills your child will be learning in the classroom. Understand rational and irrational numbers. Know that a rational number can be ...