For prizewinning puzzle creators, the devilish ideas are in the details.
Author: Siobhan Roberts
Every Artist Has a Favorite Subject. For Some, That’s Math.
At the annual Bridges conference, mathematical creativity was on dazzling display.
A Lifelong Party of ‘Puzzle-Making Tomfoolery’
In 1978, Jerry Slocum assembled the first International Puzzle Party in his living room. Now it’s a global event.
A Mathematical ‘Fever Dream’ Hits the Road
Meet “Mathemalchemy,” a traveling math-meets-art installation coming eventually to a dimension near you.
What’s Best, According to the Italian Mathematician Alessio Figalli
Alessio Figalli studies optimal transport, a field of math that ranges from the movements of clouds to the workings of chatbots.
In Seattle, a Meeting of 5,444 Mathematical Minds
Participants at this year’s Joint Mathematics Meetings explored everything from the role of A.I. to the hyperbolic design of a patchwork denim skirt.
Why Democracy Lives and Dies by Math
A documentary filmmaker and a mathematician discuss our fear of numbers and its civic costs.
AlphaProof, a New A.I. from Google DeepMind, Scores Big at the International Math Olympiad
A.I. is getting good at math — and might soon make a worthy collaborator for humans.
A Mammoth DNA Discovery Helps Map an Ancient Genome in 3-D
A “fossil chromosome” preserves the structure of a woolly mammoth’s genome — and offers a better grasp of how it once worked.
The Rubik Cube Turns 50
Mathematicians and hobbyists have had a half-century of fun exploring the 43 billion billion permutations of Erno Rubik’s creation.