Most people don’t remember math class, but they do remember Pythagoras. Greek philosopher and mathematician, he is credited with one of the handiest formulae any school student could know: A squared ...

WE HAVE a problem with maths. Our approach to the subject has led to a situation where 30 per cent of US adults are defined as having “low numeracy”: they can’t make calculations with whole numbers ...

THE history of mathematics has an image problem. It is often presented as a meeting of minds among ancient Greeks who became masters of logic. Pythagoras, Euclid and their pals honed the tools for ...

Computers are working to solve an age-old geometry problem. Humans can’t “square the circle” by hand, which was proven in the 1800s. Computer solutions involve infinity, complexity, and some ...

The absence of modern-day calculators did not stop ancient cultures from performing extraordinary feats of mathematics. The ancient Greeks kept count with abaci, frames with rods or grooves for moving ...

Plantlike designs on pottery made almost 8,000 years ago may be the earliest evidence yet of mathematical thinking. Many of the flower decorations painted on pottery by an ancient culture in northern ...