Occasionally a reader suggests a topic for my column as with the above title. My thanks. This question is important because it applies to more than mathematics. For example, did Michelangelo create ...

When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. The Ishango bone, from Africa's Congo region, has dozens of parallel notches cut into its surface ...

Many people think that mathematics is a human invention. To this way of thinking, mathematics is like a language: it may describe real things in the world, but it doesn’t “exist” outside the minds of ...

This is episode two of a three-part series. You can listen to part one here and part three here. [CLIP: Theme music] Rachel Feltman: Ever wondered what math actually is? No? Well, mathematicians sure ...

There’s a lot of mathematics in physics, as you have undoubtedly noticed. But what’s the difference between the math that we use to describe nature and nature itself? Is there any difference? Or could ...

Mr. Wilkinson is the author of “A Divine Language: Learning Algebra, Geometry, and Calculus at the Edge of Old Age.” As a boy in the first weeks of algebra class, I felt confused and then I went sort ...

If you believe the Mathematical Universe Hypothesis then yes. And so are you. Quantum phenomena have no subjective qualities and have questionable physicality. They seem to be completely describable ...

Mathematics is the basis of all science and has come a long way since humans started counting. But when did people start doing math? The answer is complicated because abstract mathematics is thought ...

Katie has a PhD in maths, specializing in the intersection of dynamical systems and number theory. She reports on topics from maths and history to society and animals. Katie has a PhD in maths, ...