2+ week, 6+ day ago (116+ words) Researchers spot the "tipping point" before mathematicians" moments of discovery By Matthew Hutson edited by Sarah Lewin Frasier If you want to know when mathematicians are about to have a breakthrough, you don"t need to look inside their heads. Just watch their movements at a chalkboard. Georgetown University psychologist Shadab Tabatabaeian, the paper"s lead author, imagines a "cool application" of their method: someday computer interfaces that track mouse or eye movements might know when not to disturb someone on the brink of a breakthrough or when to toss a new idea their way. Matthew Hutson is a freelance science writer based in New York City and author of The 7 Laws of Magical Thinking....

2+ week, 4+ day ago (673+ words) How to Identify a Prime Number without a Computer For years, a French mathematician searched for a proof that a gigantic number is prime. His method is still used 150 years later By Manon Bischoff edited by Daisy Yuhas Is 170,141,183,460,469,231,731,687,303,715,884,105,727 prime? Before you ask the Internet for an answer, can you consider how you might answer that question without a computer or even a digital calculator? In the 1800s French mathematician "douard Lucas spent years proving that this 39-digit number was indeed prime. How did he do it? Lucas, who incidentally also designed the entertaining game Tower of Hanoi, developed a method that's still useful today, more than a century later. And math enthusiasts are constantly seeking new prime numbers. The current record (as of October 2025) for the largest prime is 2136,279,841 " 1, a number with 41,024,320 digits. Simply reading this number aloud would take…...

1+ day, 21+ hour ago (239+ words) Math Puzzle: The Ancient City The mathematician, who liked to annoy friends with improvised brainteasers, thought for a moment or two, then raised a glass and recited: A rose-red city half as old as Time.One billion years ago the city's ageWas just two fifths of what Time's age will beA billion years from now. Can you computeHow old the crimson city is today? The English professor had long ago forgotten algebra and quickly shifted the conversation to another topic, but readers of this department should have no difficulty with the problem. The rose-red city's age is seven billion years. Let x be the city's present age and y be the present age of Time. A billion years ago the city would have been x " 1 billion years old, and a billion years from now Time's age will be y + 1. The…...