The Well Unlock your inner math genius, in 4 minutes Yes, you CAN be a “math person” — as long as you follow these learning techniques. ▸ 4 min — with Po-Shen Loh
13.8 Is math real? The answer has major practical and philosophical implications Is mathematics woven into the very fabric of reality? Or is it merely a product of the human mind?
Thinking Students use calculators to do math. Let them use ChatGPT to write Once students master the basics of math, they are allowed to use calculators. The same should be true of writing and ChatGPT.
Thinking Turing and Wittgenstein: An entanglement of math and philosophy In pre-War Cambridge, students had to ace an interview with Ludwig Wittgenstein to attend his lectures — Alan Turing passed that test, and went on to create one of his own.
Life The wizardly owl brain uses “Bayesian inference” to find prey The space‑specific neurons in the owl’s specialized auditory brain can do advanced math.
Hard Science Pi gets all the fanfare, but other numbers also deserve their own math holidays We bake pies for Pi Day, so why not celebrate other mathematical achievements.
Starts With A Bang Ask Ethan: Why does nature always follow a Bell curve? Almost everything we can observe and measure follows what's known as a normal distribution, or a Bell curve. There's a profound reason why.
Starts With A Bang How many times must you fold a paper to reach the Moon? Each time you fold a piece of paper, you double the paper's thickness. It doesn't take all that long to even reach the Moon.
Starts With A Bang The mathematically correct way to tie your shoes Math can explain why your laces spontaneously come untied — and how to stop it.
The Well The invisible math that controls the world This network physicist is mapping the world's most significant data to create the most beautiful visualizations of information we have ever seen. ▸ 7 min — with Albert-László Barabási
Starts With A Bang Astronomer Johannes Kepler solved life’s hardest problem: marriage How can you maximize the amount of love and happiness in your life? One of history's greatest scientists found the answer: with math.
Starts With A Bang Everything you need to know about the math of Powerball With a record-setting $1.9 billion jackpot, you'd think it's a no-brainer to buy a Powerball ticket. But the math truly shows otherwise.
Hard Science The strange number 1/137 shows up everywhere in physics. What does it mean? Does it have a deeper significance — or is it just a number?
Starts With A Bang 11 fun facts to help celebrate Pi Day It's the best-known transcendental number of all-time, and March 14 (3/14 in many countries) is the perfect time to celebrate Pi (π) Day!
Starts With A Bang Ask Ethan: Are singularities physically real? From the Big Bang to black holes, singularities are hard to avoid. The math definitely predicts them, but are they truly, physically real?
Neuropsych The better you are at math, the more money seems to influence your satisfaction Those that were the best at math didn't even show income satiation — there was no upper limit to how much money could make them happy.
Starts With A Bang 42 really is the answer to these 5 fundamental questions Although we still don't know the question, we know that the answer to life, the Universe, and everything is 42. Here are 5 possibilities.
Starts With A Bang Ask Ethan: What explains the Fibonacci sequence? The pattern 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, etc., is the Fibonacci sequence. It shows up all over nature. But what's the full explanation behind it?
The Past Joyce Neighbors: the hidden mathematician who sent the U.S. to space A woman’s name would undermine the credibility of the mission. Names of former Nazis, however, were no problem.
Smart Skills Kakeibo: The Japanese way to manage money through mindfulness Spend well, save well, live well.
Starts With A Bang How to measure a lunar month during the solar eclipse Even if you aren't in the path of totality, you can still use the solar eclipse to measure how long it takes the Moon to orbit Earth.
Strange Maps Ohio’s Circleville ditched the grid system. Then it got squared. A small Ohio town tried to escape America’s addiction to rectangular grids. It didn’t last long.
The Past What made Ada Lovelace so brilliant Ada Lovelace’s skills with language, music, and needlepoint all contributed to her pioneering work in computing.
13.8 The mathematical explanation for “spontaneous synchronization” It's spooky, and it's happening all around us. And inside us.
Life Crows use statistical inference to make informed decisions They're not just watching you; they're also calculating.
The Past More math, more money: How profit-seeking has sparked innovations in mathematics Math offers good evidence that humans can solve any problem — as long as there’s money in it.
Hard Science Solved: 500-year-old mystery about bubbles that puzzled Leonardo da Vinci The solution involves the infamous Navier-Stokes equations, which are so difficult, there is a $1-million prize for solving them.
The Well Michio Kaku: Is God a mathematician? Michio Kaku believes math is the mind of God. ▸ 6 min — with Michio Kaku
The Well Change your mind with these gateway drugs to intellectual humility Intellectual humility demands that we examine our motivations for holding certain beliefs.