6 April 2020
In 2012, mathematician Shinichi Mochizuki produced a proof claiming to solve the long-standing ABC conjecture, but no one understood it. Most mathematicians still don't, but it will now be published in a journal
7 August 2019
Discovering giant prime numbers involves laborious trial and error, and they are of little use when they are found. For certain devotees, that's beside the point
17 January 2019
Figuring out the pattern of the primes is one of the long-standing mysteries of maths, and now there is a way to spit some out on demand
25 April 2018
Awarded every four years, the Fields medals honour the brightest young mathematical talent. We look back at some of the most intriguing past winners
25 April 2018
For millennia mathematicians have struggled to unify arithmetic and geometry. Now one young genius could have brought them in sight of the ultimate prize
4 January 2018
Two multiplied by itself nearly eighty million times minus one is the biggest prime number ever discovered by the Great Internet Mersenne Prime Search
18 December 2017
After a five year struggle, Shinichi Mochizuki’s epic ABC proof may finally appear in a journal, but it is still not clear if mathematicians understand his work
