Like physics, math has its own set of “fundamental particles”—the prime numbers, which can’t be broken down into smaller ...

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 ...

While I was looking for a gift for a child’s birthday, a math book fell into my hands. I am always fascinated when authors write about abstract scientific topics for children, whether it’s on Albert ...

On his way to winning a Fields Medal, James Maynard has cut a path through simple-sounding questions about prime numbers that have stumped mathematicians for centuries. Number theorists, however, ...

One of my favorite anecdotes about prime numbers concerns Alexander Grothendieck, who was among the most brilliant mathematicians of the 20th century. According to one account, he was once asked to ...

Prime numbers have fascinated mathematicians for centuries, yet many students find them intimidating. Whether you're preparing for competitive exams like JEE, solving number theory problems, or simply ...

Somewhere out there on the number line, huge prime numbers are lurking, waiting to be discovered. On Wednesday, a new one was. The Great Internet Mersenne Prime Search, an organization devoted to ...

NPR asked the typographers at Hoefler & Frere-Jones to estimate how long this Mersenne prime would be if typed out -- all 12,987,189 digits. The answer, it turns out, depends not only on the font but ...

Jonathan Borwein (Jon) receives funding from ARC. David H. Bailey receives no funding from Australian sources. In recent weeks, two truly major results have been announced in the realm of (analytic) ...