When my students grow too dependent on their calculators, I ask them to find a number that, when multiplied by itself, gives them 2. Students quickly see that since 1² = 1 and 2² = 4, the answer has ...

For centuries, one of algebra’s oldest puzzles has remained unsolved—how to find exact answers for higher-degree polynomials, where the variable is raised to the fifth power or more. Mathematicians ...

“Do you see the pattern? Each number in the series after the first two numbers is the sum of the preceding two numbers.” That’s how I began my last column focusing on the Fibonacci sequence, which ...

Originally defined as the ratio between the circumference of a circle and its diameter, pi — written as the Greek letter π — appears throughout mathematics, including in areas that are completely ...

In the time of Greek Antiquity, there was a great mathematic philosopher who algebra students would damn in the millennia following named Pythagoras. A student of Pythagoras, named Zalmoxis, loved his ...

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