Physical Science

How large does a random group of people have to be for a 50 percent chance to exist that at least two of the people will share a birthday?

By Laurie L. Dove

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

By Jesslyn Shields & Austin Henderson

Real numbers are the opposite of imaginary numbers and include every number you can think of.

By Jesslyn Shields & Yara Simón

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

By Jesslyn Shields

The list of superstar athletes accused of - and admitting to - taking performance-enhancing drugs is almost as impressive as the number of sports that they compete in. And we're not just talking about steroids.

By William Harris, Jennifer Walker-Journey & Austin Henderson

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

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

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

You've heard of Google, but what about a Googol? If not, then this tutorial is for you.

By Mark Mancini

Mathematician Andrew Booker has found the three cubes that add up to the number 33, a long-unsolved math problem.

By Patrick J. Kiger

Borax, a popular addition to laundry detergents and slime recipes, is a natural ingredient that has been getting flack for possibly being harmful to children. But is this true?

By Alia Hoyt

It's an odorless gas that's present in a variety of home products, cosmetics, car exhaust and even humans. But is it bad for us?

By Michelle Konstantinovsky

Two mathematicians have solved a decades-old math problem by harnessing the power of a virtual supercomputer.

By Patrick J. Kiger

And it'll take XIV minutes flat.

By Alia Hoyt & Desiree Bowie

How do you calculate absurdly high numbers without writing them out in numerals? You use scientific notation. We'll give you examples and show you how.

By Mark Mancini & Yara Simón

You might wonder what phosphates do, but they are so intrinsic to our daily lives that the question really is: What don't phosphates do?

By Jesslyn Shields

You may remember from math class that a prime number is a number that can only be divided by 1 and itself. But why are they important anyway?

By Patrick J. Kiger

Rational numbers can be expressed as the ratio of two integers, while irrational numbers, such as square roots of non-square numbers, cannot.

By Patrick J. Kiger & Austin Henderson

In 1999, Hisashi Ouchi, a Japanese nuclear fuel plant worker was exposed to critical levels of radiation. He suffered the worst radiation burns in history. He lived for 83 agonizing days afterward as his body all but disintegrated.

By Patrick J. Kiger

There are two different scales of measuring temperature on Earth, but they merge at just one very cold number.

By Jesslyn Shields

Adrenochrome has been linked to schizophrenia and the LSD counterculture movement. Now QAnon conspiracy theorists say it's part of a child sex-trafficking cult. So what's the truth behind this chemical compound?

By Jennifer Walker-Journey

Magnets produce magnetic fields and attract metals like iron, nickel and cobalt. They're used in all sorts of applications but how are they made and how do they work?

By Tracy V. Wilson & Chris Pollette