Hidden Fibonacci numbers, a new shape and the search for a grand unified theory of mathematics are among our choices for most ...

A shard of smooth bone etched with irregular marks dating back 20,000 years puzzled archaeologists until they noticed something unique – the etchings, lines like tally marks, may have represented ...

A supercomputer has something for the record books. A computer has found the largest known prime number. It's 22 million digits long. Great Internet Mersenne Prime Search — -- Here's one for the ...

A basic feature of number theory, prime numbers are also a fundamental building block of computer science, from hashtables to cryptography. Everyone knows that a prime number is one that cannot be ...

The basic building blocks of the whole numbers remain mysterious.

For those who number ourselves among the algebraically impaired, higher math is like outer space—a forbidding frontier; a sphere of unknowns, peril and, as has been proved often enough, drama. It ...