Mathematically, the complex numbers are supremely elegant. Algebra works perfectly the way we want it to—any equation has a complex number solution, a situation that is not true for the real ...

The answer is an emphatic yes, for both Catherine Chung, the Korean American author of “The Tenth Muse,” and her narrator-protagonist, a brilliant Chinese American math professor named Katherine.

The equation contains the five most important numbers in math — 1, 0, pi, i, and e — with the three basic operations that give math structure: Addition, multiplication, and exponentiation. In ...

Mathematically, the complex numbers are supremely elegant. Algebra works perfectly the way we want it to — any equation has a complex number solution, a situation that is not true for the real ...

Math can be useful. It can also be elegant, even beautiful — a word you’ll often hear mathematicians say when they describe the discovery of a nugget of surprising insight.

The new characteristic the Yale team found results from equations that any high school algebra student would recognize, but which physicists had not appreciated as a basic principle of resonators. It ...

Most people’s experiences with polynomial equations don’t extend much further than high school algebra and the quadratic formula. Still, these numeric puzzles remain a foundational component ...

Equations are geometrically symmetric if they can be “flip flopped” without changing their meaning. For instance, take the simple sum 3 + 4. If we swap the order, we get 4 + 3.