Most of us first hear about the irrational number π (pi)—rounded off as 3.14, with an infinite number of decimal digits—in school, where we learn about its use in the context of a circle. More ...

Last week, I introduced Emmy Noether, an extraordinary figure in the fields of mathematics and physics. To understand Noether’s reasoning, we need to talk a bit more about the fundamentals of ...

While building a simpler model for particle interactions, physicists found a new representation involving pi—not a new value ...

In 1655 the English mathematician John Wallis published a book in which he derived a formula for pi as the product of an infinite series of ratios. Now researchers from the University of Rochester, in ...

Mathematics is full of weird number systems that most people have never heard of and would have trouble even conceptualizing. But rational numbers are familiar. They’re the counting numbers and the ...

Mathematical physics occupies the fertile borderland between pure mathematics and theoretical physics, developing precise frameworks to formulate and solve the laws governing nature. It embraces the ...

In one of David Lodge's comic novels about academia, the English-professor characters play a game called "Humiliation," where they take turns admitting classic works of literature that they haven't ...

Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. The Universe is out there, waiting for you to discover it. When it comes to describing the physical world, we can do it ...

Tessellations aren’t just eye-catching patterns—they can be used to crack complex mathematical problems. By repeatedly reflecting shapes to tile a surface, researchers uncovered a method that links ...