Assuming that a match is one unit of length, it is possible to place 12 matches on a plane in various ways to form polygons with areas that have integral values. On this page are two such polygons: a ...

Among the show’s most fundamental changes was that Leonardo was no longer the leader. Instead, a somewhat more dim-witted Raphael took charge simply because he was the biggest. (In Rise, Raph is a ...

Plantlike designs on pottery made almost 8,000 years ago may be the earliest evidence yet of mathematical thinking. Many of the flower decorations painted on pottery by an ancient culture in northern ...

Using a new computer model, scientists simulated the stripes, spots and hexagons on a species of boxfish, imperfections and all. A male ornate boxfish with distinctive, complex patterns of stripes and ...

It began as a strange discovery buried in chaos theory — a mathematical pattern that seemed to predict real events before they happened. From climate shifts to stock market crashes, scientists now ...

BUFFALO, N.Y. — Last year, onlookers observed a startling site on China’s Qiantang River: waves forming a grid-like pattern. Dubbed the “matrix tide,” this complex wave pattern was caused by the river ...

Katie has a PhD in maths, specializing in the intersection of dynamical systems and number theory. She reports on topics from maths and history to society and animals. Katie has a PhD in maths, ...