For years, physicists were stuck in trying to explain an important mathematical problem in physics. The right approach ended ...

A mathematical problem that had remained unsolved for more than 10 years in the physics of complex systems has finally been ...

The P vs NP problem is a fundamental question in computer science, unproven for decades, with immense consequences. If ...

The transcript explores Goldbach’s conjecture, the simple-looking claim that every even number greater than 2 can be written ...

The best-yet test of artificial intelligence’s mathematical mettle has released its first official round of results. The verdict is that large language models (LLMs) are emerging as useful—albeit ...

Think about placing dots on a flat surface. You want as many pairs as possible to be separated by the same distance. For any amount of dots, what is the greatest possible number of pairs that can be ...

Artificial intelligence is mastering the kinds of projects that have long helped to build the careers of young mathematicians. What does that mean for their future? Credit...Illustrations by Yoshi ...

For new discoveries, everyday mysteries, and the science behind the headlines, follow NPR's ShortWave podcast . Over a century ago, the German psychologist Wolfgang Köhler conducted what became a ...

For generations, mathematicians have tried and failed to solve an 80-year-old problem. In May, an artificial intelligence (AI) model successfully tackled it. OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT, said one of ...

Place any number of dots on a two-dimensional plane—say, a piece of paper—and measure the distance between each pair. If you rearrange the dots, how many pairs could be positioned exactly the same ...