23+ hour, 54+ min ago   (351+ words) New solutions found to picture-hanging problems By Emma R. Hasson edited by Sarah Lewin Frasier Retired computer scientist Tom Verhoeff first explored such problems in a workshop for a grade school math camp, where the campers investigated with actual string and…...

3+ mon, 2+ week ago   (518+ words) Scientific American Scientists catalog the ‘fractal dimensions’ of more than 130,000 islands The “coastline paradox” helped to define fractals, but coastlines themselves turn out to be less fractal than thought By Alex Music edited by Sarah Lewin Frasier Coastlines' intricate perimeters…...

6+ mon, 3+ week ago   (378+ words) A new proof solves a long-standing problem about the doughnut-shaped torus By Rachel Crowell edited by Clara Moskowitz Your peculiar-looking shape will be trickier to construct than one with a smooth surface. The complexity of the problem only grows if…...

10+ mon, 1+ week ago   (316+ words) By Emma R. Hasson edited by Sarah Lewin Frasier Can you drill a hole in a cube that an identical cube could fall through? Prince Rupert of the Rhine first asked this question in the 17th century, and he soon found out…...