The original version of this story appeared in Quanta Magazine. All of modern mathematics is built on the foundation of set theory, the study of how to organize abstract collections of objects. But in ...

In a world run by computers, there is one algorithm that stands above all the rest. It powers search engines, encrypts your data, guides rockets, runs simulations, and makes the modern digital ...

Descriptive set theorists study the niche mathematics of infinity. Now, they’ve shown that their problems can be rewritten in the concrete language of algorithms. All of modern mathematics is built on ...

Mike Kenny didn’t intend to create an educational web app — he was just looking for a way to help students master their multiplication tables. In 2013, as a graduate student in the Vermont Mathematics ...

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 ...

You’re at the checkout screen after an online shopping spree, ready to enter your credit card number. You type it in and instantly see a red error message ...

A new report by Capgemini warns that quantum computing may break the widely used public-key cryptographic systems within the next decade — threatening everything from online banking to blockchain ...

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 ...

Music journalist Walters debuts with an ebullient love letter to LGBTQ+ and “gay friendly” musicians. He begins in the late 1960s, when such artists as the Velvet Underground Continue reading » ...

Discovering faster algorithms for matrix multiplication remains a key pursuit in computer science and numerical linear algebra. Since the pioneering contributions of Strassen and Winograd in the late ...