Math Concepts

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

A perfect square is a number, but it can also be explained using an actual square.

By Jesslyn Shields

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.

By Nokware Knight

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

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.

By Jesslyn Shields

Numerators and denominators, oh my! It sounds complicated, but learning how to multiply fractions is easy. It just takes three simple steps.

By Jesslyn Shields

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.

By Jesslyn Shields

Finding the range of a set of numbers is an easy subtraction problem!

By Jesslyn Shields

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.

By Kristen Hall-Geisler

Both degrees and radians represent the measure of an angle in geometry. So, how do you convert one to the other?

By Mark Mancini

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?

By Marshall Brain, Dave Roos & Austin Henderson

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?

By Nicholas Gerbis

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

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.

By Jesslyn Shields & Yara Simón

We'll show you both a quick and dirty way, and a precise, more complicated formula for converting Celsius to Fahrenheit (and vice versa).

By Sydney Murphy & Austin Henderson

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