The Best Articles in Math
The most useful articles and videos in Math from around the web—beginners to advanced—curated by thought leaders and our community. We focus on timeless pieces and update the list whenever we discover new, must-read articles or videos—make sure to bookmark and revisit this page.
Top 5 Math Articles
At a glance: these are the articles that have been most read, shared, and saved in Math by Refind users in 2023 so far.
Videos
Watch a video to get a quick overview.
A world from a sheet of paper
Starting from just a sheet of paper, by folding, stacking, crumpling, sometimes tearing, Tadashi will explore a diversity of phenomena, from magic tricks and...
Space filling curves filling with water
Get an exclusive Surfshark deal: enter promo code STEVEMOULD for an extra 3 months free at https://surfshark.deals/stevemould*literallySpace filling curves a...
4,844 People Agree With Me, 574 Disagree
For decades, the Sleeping Beauty Problem has divided people between two answers. Head to https://brilliant.org/veritasium to start your free 30-day trial, an...
The Prime Number Race (with 3Blue1Brown)
Grant Sanderson discusses a race between two types of prime numbers - and an unexpected result.More links & stuff in full description below ↓↓↓See all three ...
What is ...?
New to Math? These articles make an excellent introduction.
What Is a Particle?
It has been thought of as many things: a pointlike object, an excitation of a field, a speck of pure math that has cut into reality. But never has physicists’ conception of a particle changed more…
What is a square?
If a shape has equal sides with 90 degree angles between them then it's a square, right? Well, not quite...
What is it to be Bayesian? The (pretty simple) math modelling behind a Big Data buzzword
If you’ve ever tripped up over the term ‘Bayesian’ while reading up on data or tech, fear not. Strip away the jargon and notation, and even the mathematics-averse can make sense of the simple yet…
How to ...?
How to Win at Wordle (Without Cheating)
Solve these puzzle questions to level up your Wordle game.
How to break a theory
When a theory breaks, you learn how to build it better.
«ASK WEIRD QUESTIONS Einstein had a wild imagination. He asked himself questions like: What would he feel if he rode an elevator through outer space? What would he see if he chased a beam of light?»
Trending
These links are currently making the rounds in Math on Refind.
Why Mathematical Proof Is a Social Compact
Number theorist Andrew Granville on what mathematics really is — and why objectivity is never quite within reach.
Alan Turing and the Power of Negative Thinking
Mathematical proofs based on a technique called diagonalization can be relentlessly contrarian, but they help reveal the limits of algorithms.
Old Model, New Tricks
On the 85th anniversary of his death, a look back at the legacy of Nikolai Kondratiev and its implications for the coming age of GenAI.
Painting with Math: A Gentle Study of Raymarching
A compilation of my Raymarching and Signed Distance Field learnings and work. In it, I teach you how to leverage those techniques along with lighting models, smoothmin, soft shadows, and some math to create beautiful 3D raymarched scenes ranging from abstract shapes to infinite realistic-looking landscapes.
The Early History of Counting
Figuring out when humans began to count systematically, with purpose, is not easy. Our first real clues are a handful of curious, carved bones dating from the final few millennia of the three-million…
Short Articles
Short on time? Check out these useful short articles in Math—all under 10 minutes.
Recounting the History of Math’s Transcendental Numbers
Transcendental numbers include famous examples like e and π, but it took mathematicians centuries to understand them.
How Lossless Data Compression Works
One student’s desire to get out of a final exam led to the ubiquitous algorithm that shrinks data without sacrificing information.
400-Million-Year-Old Fossil Upends Our Understanding of Fibonacci Spirals in Nature
If your eyes have ever been drawn to the arrangement of leaves on a plant stem, the texture of a pineapple, or the scales of a pinecone, then you have unknowingly witnessed brilliant examples of…
Why Mathematicians Re-Prove What They Already Know
It’s been known for thousands of years that the primes go on forever, but new proofs give fresh insights into how theorems depend on one another.
Ninth Dedekind number discovered: Scientists solve long-known problem in mathematics
Making history with 42 digits, scientists at Paderborn University and KU Leuven have unlocked a decades-old mystery of mathematics with the so-called ninth Dedekind number.
Long Articles
These are some of the most-read long-form articles in Math.
The mathematically correct way to tie your shoes
One of the major milestones of our early childhoods comes when we learn, for the first time, how to successfully tie our own shoes. As most of us learned, there are three key steps to making that…
Complexity Theory’s 50-Year Journey to the Limits of Knowledge
How hard is it to prove that problems are hard to solve? Meta-complexity theorists have been asking questions like this for decades. A string of recent results has started to deliver answers.
The Extraordinary Ways Rhythm Shapes Our Lives
Rhythm plays an important role in how we perceive — and connect with — the world.
How Can Some Infinities Be Bigger Than Others?
All infinities go on forever, so how is it possible for some infinities to be larger than others? The mathematician Justin Moore discusses the mysteries of infinity with Steven Strogatz.
The Two-Century Quest to Quantify Our Senses
The quantification of bodies, senses, and experience did not begin with surveillance capitalism but can be traced back to mathematical and statistical techniques of the 19th century.
«Emerging experimental psychology laboratories wanted to create a new kind of human being: quantifiable, calculable, and predictable.»
Thought Leaders
We monitor hundreds of thought leaders, influencers, and newsletters in Math, including:
nature
Research, News, and Commentary from Nature, the international journal of science. For daily science news, get Nature Briefing: http://go.nature.com/naturebriefing
Quanta Magazine
Illuminating math and science. Supported by @SimonsFdn. 2022 Pulitzer Prize in Explanatory Reporting.
XKCD Comic
XKCD comic feed with images and mobile friendly links. Unofficial, feed run by @dghubble
Popular Mechanics
The best in tech, science, aerospace, DIY and auto news. Sign up for our newsletter: https://www.popularmechanics.com/email/popularmechanics-newsletter
Stephen Wolfram
I create ideas, technology, science, companies, books, ...: #WolfLang #WolframPhysics #WolframAlpha #Mathematica @WolframResearch
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Who are the thought leaders in Math?
We follow dozens of thought leaders in Math, including nature, Quanta Magazine, XKCD Comic, Popular Mechanics, Stephen Wolfram.
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