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Mathematics

The maths meme that has been distracting mathematicians for a century

A seemingly simple set of rules kicks off a kind of mathematical magic trick, which has kept great minds busy since the 1930s. Columnist Jacob Aron explores the origins of the Collatz conjecture, why it is so addictive to mathematicians and whether AI could help us solve it once and for all

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Mathematics

The mathematician who doesn’t exist

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Papers released on the Internet in August 2012 by Japanese mathematician Shinichi Mochizuki

Mathematics

The secret project to settle controversial maths proof with a computer

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Mathematics

The man who ruined mathematics

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Mathematics

Mathematician wins 2026 Abel prize for solving 60-year-old mystery

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Mathematics

Why it’s easy to be misunderstood when talking about probability

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Young woman, wearing a orange jacket, is reading a book on an ebook reader during sunset over Himalayas. She is sitting on the top of a mountain and holding the e-reader.The afternoon sun on the background. Mount Everest National Park. This is the highest national park in the world, with the entire park located above 3,000 m ( 9,700 ft). This park includes three peaks higher than 8,000 m, including Mt Everest. Therefore, most of the park area is very rugged and steep, with its terrain cut by deep rivers and glaciers. Unlike other parks in the plain areas, this park can be divided into four climate zones because of the rising altitude. The climatic zones include a forested lower zone, a zone of alpine scrub, the upper alpine zone which includes upper limit of vegetation growth, and the Arctic zone where no plants can grow.

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The 13 best popular science books of 2025

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Mathematics

The most important mathematician you’ve (probably) never heard of

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Mathematics

The foolproof way to win any lottery, according to maths

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Mathematics

The bizarre story of a maths proof that is only true in Japan

A 500-page proof that only a handful of people in the world claim to understand kicked off a saga unlike anything else in the history of mathematics – and now there’s a new twist to the story, says Jacob Aron

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Mathematics

Why the long history of calculating pi will never be completed

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Mathematics

How Fibonacci numbers give us a neat hack for converting between units

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Mathematics

Top statistician David Spiegelhalter on how to deal with uncertainty

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Mathematics

The mathematics behind pouring a glass of wine

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