Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Irrational numbers such as pi or the square root of 2 have always fascinated humankind. After all, they symbolize infinity better ...

Why do irrational numbers exist? originally appeared on Quora: the place to gain and share knowledge, empowering people to learn from others and better understand the world. Answer by Alon Amit, PhD ...

Katie has a PhD in maths, specializing in the intersection of dynamical systems and number theory. She reports on topics from maths and history to society and animals. Katie has a PhD in maths, ...

When my students grow too dependent on their calculators, I ask them to find a number that, when multiplied by itself, gives them 2. Students quickly see that since 1² = 1 and 2² = 4, the answer has ...

The exact story is contested, but in every version, it has a grim ending. A man discovers a new mathematical truth and loses his life for it. In every version of the narrative, the ancient Greek ...

In the early 1970s mathematician Donald Knuth spent a sabbatical with his wife in Norway. The time was meant to be spent relaxing. Yet one night he woke up his partner in a state of agitation. He ...