Math Concepts
Math is often called the universal language because no matter where you're from, a better understanding of math means a better understanding of the world around you. Learn about math concepts such as addition, subtraction, fractions, ratios and more.
Why Can You Hear the Ocean When Holding a Seashell to Your Ear?
Can a sound wave kill you?
Can two cans and a string really be used to talk over a distance?
Why Do Bubbles Pop?
It's Elementary: The Periodic Table Quiz
10 Things You Should Never Mix With Alcohol
How Electricity Works
How Faraday Cages Work
How Gasoline Works
What do bugs have to do with forensic science?
5 Things You Didn't Know About Autopsies
Can you explain the diameter measurements used in bullets, wire and nails?
How Alchemy Paved the Way for Chemistry
How did Nikola Tesla change the way we use energy?
Time May Not Exist, Say Some Physicists and Philosophers
Why Does Ice Stick to Your Fingers?
What if I forgot to remove a piercing before an MRI?
A Kid-friendly Introduction to Magnets and Magnetism
5 Hugely Fun Facts About Mass (Not Weight)
Antarctica's Spooky Cosmic Rays Might Shatter Physics As We Know It
Could Newly Measured W Boson Break the Standard Model?
Could an 'X17 Particle' Hint at a Fifth Force in the Universe?
Where do they get the particles for accelerators?
5 Baffling Subatomic Particles
Why Are School Buses Yellow?
Why Spinning Blades Look Weird on TV
HowStuffWorks: How To Draw An Impossible Shape
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Whether you're a math whiz or not, there are some pretty cool number theories, beliefs and coincidences to appreciate. How down with digits are you?
By Alia Hoyt
The scutoid is kind of like the Higgs boson. Researchers theorized the new shape existed. And then they went looking for it.
Most of the world uses meters, apart from the U.S. and a few other countries. So what's an easy way to convert from meters to feet and vice versa?
By Mark Mancini
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A perfect square is a number, but it can also be explained using an actual square.
There was a time (4,000 years ago) when simply being able to add might get your name on a clay tablet or help you accumulate vast wealth.
By Dave Roos
A unit circle is an important part of trigonometry and can define right angle relationships known as sine, cosine and tangent.
Many people get speed and velocity confused. It's no surprise because the terms are often used interchangeably. But they're not quite the same thing. So how do you find the velocity of an object?
By Mark Mancini
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Scientists have come up with a new formula to describe the shape of every egg in the world, which will have applications in fields from art and technology to architecture and agriculture.
Numerators and denominators, oh my! It sounds complicated, but learning how to multiply fractions is easy. It just takes three simple steps.
Converting kilogram measurements into pounds is not hard. We'll show you the textbook way plus two quick-and-dirty shortcuts.
By Mark Mancini
Dividing fractions is easy once you learn a couple of rules and remember three words — keep, change and flip.
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Finding the range of a set of numbers is an easy subtraction problem!
Sir Isaac Newton's Law of Universal Gravitation helps put the laws of gravity into a mathematical formula. And the gravitational constant is the "G" in that formula.
By Mark Mancini
A multiplication table is an easy-to-use grid of numbers that can help you learn to multiply quickly by using the chart and, eventually, your memory.
Both degrees and radians represent the measure of an angle in geometry. So, how do you convert one to the other?
By Mark Mancini
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Whether the circle is as big as planet Mars or as small as a tennis ball, the ratio of its circumference divided by its diameter will always equal pi (3.14). But why?
You use the number zero all the time, but it may surprise you to learn that it sometimes isn't a number at all. It may surprise you even more to learn that it was all but invented. See what else surprises you about zero in this article.
By Josh Clark
Mathematics achieves the sublime. Sometimes, as with tessellations, it rises to art. In their simplest form, tessellations consist of a single shape that repeats over a two-dimensional plane without any gaps. Why was M.C. Escher so fixated on them?
Fractals have been around forever but were only defined in the last quarter of the 20th century. Think you can wrap your brain around how fractals work?
By Craig Haggit
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A world without math is unimaginable. It's a part of who we are. It's the analytical juice of our left brain. In the words of physicist Richard Feynman, even a fool can use it. So why do so many of us turn our backs on numbers?
By Robert Lamb
For many of us, a number is just a number, a bit of information that tells you, say, what time it is. But mathematicians look at that same number and divine relationships that underlie nature itself. Ready to enter the trippy world of number theory?
By Robert Lamb
Real numbers are the opposite of imaginary numbers and include every number you can think of.
We'll show you both a quick and dirty way, and a precise, more complicated formula for converting Celsius to Fahrenheit (and vice versa).
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You've heard of Google, but what about a Googol? If not, then this tutorial is for you.
By Mark Mancini
Spanish researchers recently uncovered a new geometric shape that allows human tissue to curve. But how?
By Robert Lamb