Mathematics, features and articles | Educational Science

Apr 30, 2005

Accelerator Used to Decipher Archimedes' Writings

BALTIMORE (AP) _ A particle accelerator is being used to reveal the long-lost writings of the Greek mathematician Archimedes, work hidden for centuries after a Christian monk wrote over it in the Middle Ages. Highly focused X-rays produced at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center were used last week to begin...

Jul 31, 2006

Baby Brains are Wired For Math

Next time someone complains about arithmetic being hard, math lovers can defend themselves by saying even a six-month-old can do it. Through monitoring the brains of infants, researchers confirmed that infants as early as six months in age can detect mathematical errors, putting to rest a debate that has been...

Feb 28, 2017

French Mathematician Yves Meyer Wins Top Prize for 'Wavelet Theory'

A French mathematician known for his pioneering work on a theory used for applications ranging from image compression to the detection of gravitational waves from the merging of black holes has earned one of the world's top prizes in mathematics. Yves Meyer, a professor emeritus in mathematics at the École...

Dec 31, 2021

What is the Fibonacci sequence?

The Fibonacci sequence is a series of numbers in which each number is the sum of the two that precede it. Starting at 0 and 1, the first 10 numbers of the sequence look like this: 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, and so on forever....

Apr 30, 2013

Mathematician Who Proved Map-Coloring Theorem Has Died

Kenneth Appel, one of the first mathematicians to solve a famous mathematical proof using a computer, died April 19 at the age of 80. In 1976, Appel helped prove the four-color theorem, which states that any map can be colored in using just four colors, without bordering territories using the...

May 13, 2013

Googol, Googolplex - & Google

A googol equals 1 followed by 100 zeros. Googol is a mathematical term to describe a huge quantity. It is not an incorrect spelling of the search engine giant’s name, Google — actually, it's the other way around. Googol, a quantity that surpasses even the number of hydrogen atoms in...

May 20, 2013

Famous Prime Number Conjecture One Step Closer to Proof

Infinity down, only 69,999,997 to go. New research has proven that prime numbers don't just disappear as numbers get larger — instead, there is an infinite number of prime numbers separated by a distance of at most 70 million. The new proof, accepted this month for publication in the journal...

May 20, 2013

What is a Prime Number?

The first five prime numbers: 2, 3, 5, 7 and 11. A prime number is an integer, or whole number, that has only two factors — 1 and itself. Put another way, a prime number can be divided evenly only by 1 and by itself. Prime numbers also must be...

Jun 3, 2013

No End in Sight: Debating the Existence of Infinity

NEW YORK — Despite being in existence for more than 2,000 years, the concept of infinity has endured as an enigmatic, and oftentimes challenging, idea for mathematicians, physicists and philosophers. Does infinity really exist, or is it just part of the fabric of our imaginations? A panel of scientists and...

Dec 19, 2013

The 12 Days of Pascal's Triangular Christmas (Op-Ed)

This article was originally published at The Conversation. The publication contributed the article to LiveScience's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. One of the most magical aspects of mathematics is the ability for complex and intricate structures to emerge from the simplest of rules. Few mathematical objects are simpler to create...

Dec 20, 2013

How History Shaped the Global Mathematician

This Behind the Scenes article was provided to LiveScience in partnership with the National Science Foundation. Nothing seems more universal than the truths of mathematics. It should not matter, most believe, where they are expounded and by whom. Mathematics today is the ultimate portable discipline, unconstrained by time, place, nation...

Jan 15, 2014

Real Numbers: Properties and Definition

Real numbers are, in fact, pretty much any number that you can think of. This can include whole numbers or integers, fractions, rational numbers and irrational numbers. Real numbers can be positive or negative, and include the number zero. They are called real numbers because they are not imaginary, which...

Jan 21, 2014

What Are Imaginary Numbers?

An imaginary number is a number that, when squared, has a negative result. Essentially, an imaginary number is the square root of a negative number and does not have a tangible value. While it is not a real number — that is, it cannot be quantified on the number line...

Jan 29, 2014

What Are Complex Numbers?

Complex numbers are numbers that consist of two parts — a real number and an imaginary number. Complex numbers are the building blocks of more intricate math, such as algebra. They can be applied to many aspects of real life, especially in electronics and electromagnetism. The standard format for complex...

Jan 30, 2014

What's the Universe Made Of? Math, Says Scientist

BROOKLYN, N.Y. — Scientists have long used mathematics to describe the physical properties of the universe. But what if the universe itself is math? That's what cosmologist Max Tegmark believes. In Tegmark's view, everything in the universe — humans included — is part of a mathematical structure. All matter is...