On a set of broken clay bowls from northern Mesopotamia, delicate flower patterns have turned out to be something far more radical than decoration. New analysis of this ancient art suggests that early ...

Long before anyone wrote down a number, early villagers were painting flowers with a precision that looks suspiciously like ...

A newly-developed mathematical method can detect geometric structure in neural activity in the brain. The method is a first step toward developing a new mathematical toolkit to uncover the structure ...

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 ...

BROOKLYN, N.Y. — Scientists have long used mathematics to describe the physical properties of the universe. But what if the universe itself is math? That's what cosmologist Max Tegmark believes. In ...

An expert argues that the "strands" of structure used in mathematics education have significantly weakened the effectiveness of US school mathematics. During the "New Math" movement of the 1960s, a ...

It's a truly remarkable fact that our deepest understanding of the material world is embodied in mathematics, often in concepts that were originated with some very different motivation. A good example ...

Children with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) have a number of cognitive deficits. Mathematical ability seems particularly damaged in children with FASD. A new study supports the importance of ...

BROOKLYN, N.Y. — Scientists have long used mathematics to describe the physical properties of the universe. But what if the universe itself is math? That's what cosmologist Max Tegmark believes. In ...