Some math conjectures and theorems and proofs can take on a profound, quasi-religious status as examples of the limits of human comprehension. TREE(3) is one of those examples. "You've got all these ...

For thousands of years, philosophers have pondered cardinality: knowing “how many.” Using a series of crude estimates, the ancient Greek mathematician Archimedes worked out the approximate number of ...

An oceanographer buys a piece of whale flesh at a market in Japan. The clerk assures her the meat comes from a Baird’s beaked whale, which is legal to hunt under certain circumstances. The scientist ...