A classic math rule now handles infinity. New work strengthens the math behind physics and unbounded systems. % ...

For four decades, a quiet boundary in pure mathematics kept a powerful theorem locked inside the safe world of finite quantities. Now a new result known as Sebestyen’s theorem has pushed that boundary ...

This is what happens when you mess with infinity. You might think that if you simply started adding the natural numbers, 1 plus 2 plus 3 and so on all the way to infinity, you would get a pretty big ...

Cheng (How to Bake π), a scientist in residence at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and honorary fellow at Sheffield University, tackles some difficult concepts in this superb study of the ...

A set of the six sides of a die matches up one-to-one with a set of red shoes, helping illustrate Georg Cantor's set theorem. Image courtesy of GBH/NOVA It can be easy to take math for granted. But ...

It’s a complaint many algebra teachers are familiar with, as more letters and symbols are introduced with progressively harder courses in mathematics. But why did the plus symbol emerge as the ...

Of all the endless questions children and mathematicians have asked about infinity, one of the biggest has to do with its size. Whether it’s on the playground or at bedtime, children encounter the ...