In 1852 mathematician Francis Guthrie asked a seemingly simple question that triggered endless dispute, left a trail of overturned publications in its wake and culminated in a resolution that has ...

You might be surprised to learn that you can’t comb the hairs flat on a coconut without creating a cowlick. Perhaps even more surprising, this silly claim with an even sillier name, the “hairy ball ...

In a new peer-reviewed study, Ne'Kiya Jackson and Calcea Johnson outlined 10 ways to solve the Pythagorean theorem using trigonometry, including a proof they discovered in high school. When you ...

Pi Day (March 14) is a day of global mathematical celebration, but it’s not the only numerically significant calendar date. It’s far from the rarest, either. In fact, today marks a special occasion ...

In 2022, two high school students created a trigonometric proof of the Pythagorean Theorem—something that’s only ever been accomplished by a few professional mathematicians. Now, a new article not ...

Two years ago, a couple of high school classmates each composed a mathematical marvel, a trigonometric proof of the Pythagorean theorem. Now, they’re unveiling 10 more. For over 2,000 years, such ...

Imagine closing your eyes and rolling a billiards ball across a table. Where it goes; what angles it hits the sides at; how ...

The original version of this story appeared in Quanta Magazine. In 1994, an earthquake of a proof shook up the mathematical world. The mathematician Andrew Wiles had finally settled Fermat’s Last ...

For over two millennia, mathematicians agreed on one thing: you can’t use trigonometry to prove Pythagoras’ Theorem—because ...

A mathematician will turn a groundbreaking 100-page proof into computer code. The proof tool, Lean, lets users turn proofs written in prose into rules and logic for testing. Kevin Buzzard already uses ...

Three high schoolers and their mentor revisited a century-old theorem to prove that all knots can be found in a fractal called the Menger sponge. In the fall of 2021, Malors Espinosa set out to devise ...