It’s not often a math paper goes viral, but a new preprint from a theoretical physicist at Poland’s Jagiellonian University has well and truly bucked the trend. Why? Because it seems to reduce all of ...

When one thinks of mathematics, the thought that comes to most peoples’ heads is solving an equation and getting a correct answer. That is the case with many mathematical theorems, including one of ...

To learn math, students must build a mental toolbox of facts and procedures needed for different problems. But students who can recall these foundational facts in isolation often struggle to use them ...

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Math is the sum of its parts, and it adds on itself. What does that mean? It means that multiplication is just repeated addition. And that mastering the times tables will help students simplify ...

When it comes to teaching math, a debate has persisted for decades: How, and to what degree, should algorithms be a focus of learning math? The step-by-step procedures are among the most debated ...

In the third century BCE, Apollonius of Perga asked how many circles one could draw that would touch three given circles at exactly one point each. It would take 1,800 years to prove the answer: eight ...

In Central Falls, R.I., teachers are trying new strategies that move away from focusing on “key words,” the traditional, simplistic approach that often leads younger students astray CENTRAL FALLS, R.I ...

Katie has a PhD in maths, specializing in the intersection of dynamical systems and number theory. She reports on topics from maths and history to society and animals. Katie has a PhD in maths, ...