https://phys.org/science-news/mathematics/ en-us The latest news on mathematics, math, math science, mathematical science and math technology. Recently, a cheerful 100-year-old message in a bottle was found on the south-west coast of Australia. In it, a World War One soldier proclaimed to be "as happy as Larry." https://phys.org/news/2026-04-chance-message-bottle.html Mathematics Mon, 13 Apr 2026 16:00:07 EDT news695304991 A University of Houston researcher and his collaborators have developed a mathematical model that helps identify whether a competitive environment is healthy, stagnant or skewed. Published in the journal npj Complexity, the study led by UH Computer Science Professor Ioannis Pavlidis presents a general, falsifiable framework for assessing competition quality and fairness. The model works by analyzing the statistical pattern of repeated success and reverse-engineering the kind of competitive system that produced it. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-mathematical-signature-competition-fair-winner.html Mathematics Thu, 09 Apr 2026 13:20:05 EDT news694954861 As organizations increasingly rely on algorithms to rank candidates for jobs, university spots, and financial services, a new method, named hyperFA*IR, offers a more principled approach when picking candidates based on a limited pool of applicants, especially if minorities are few. The new interactive visualization, "Ranks of Disparity," makes these complex dynamics visible. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-disparity-approach-flaw-fairness-algorithms.html Mathematics Tue, 07 Apr 2026 13:20:01 EDT news694778667 Many drivers will know the feeling: you pull ahead of the slower car you've been stuck behind and cruise the open road ahead at your own, faster speed. By the time you reach the next stop light, you're sure that you've left the slower car far behind you—but to your surprise, you see that same car cruise up right behind you in the mirror. Horror buffs might even recall scenes from "Friday the 13th," where masked villain Jason Voorhees always catches up to his sprinting victims—despite himself walking at a leisurely pace. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-voorhees-law-slower-car.html Mathematics Tue, 07 Apr 2026 11:00:03 EDT news694772674 Debates over how geometry is understood and learned date back at least to the days of Plato, with more recent scholars concluding that only humans possess the foundations of this understanding. However, a new analysis by New York University psychology professor Moira Dillon concludes that geometry's foundations are shared by humans and a variety of other animals—from rats to chickens to fish. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-analysis-geometric-human-math-module.html Mathematics Mon, 06 Apr 2026 16:10:06 EDT news694709581 When people are talking, they can start to unconsciously mirror each other, for instance, in the words they use, their sentence structures and even hand gestures. This tendency to mirror others can lead to smoother conversations, while also fostering empathy and collaboration. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-alignment-conversations-highly-situation.html Mathematics Mon, 06 Apr 2026 10:20:01 EDT news694687707 Many people have likely found themselves watching oddly satisfying videos of random objects being squashed by a powerful hydraulic press, but rarely do people consider why things squash the way they do. One object that caught the eye of researchers at The University of Manchester was a simple drink can. When crushed while filled with liquid, it behaves completely differently from an empty one. Instead of collapsing suddenly, it produces an ordered sequence of circular rings that appear one by one. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-soda-cans-mathematics-corrugation-formation.html Mathematics Tue, 31 Mar 2026 18:00:05 EDT news694186021 When you go out to run errands on the weekend, you're on a "tour" as defined by human mobility researchers. Same if you book a guided tour of a famous city or take a trip on a cruise boat that reaches multiple ports. A characteristic of such tours is that you begin and end up in the same place and take intermediate stops along the way. The number of stops is the tour's "length." https://phys.org/news/2026-03-science-delivery.html Mathematics Mon, 30 Mar 2026 14:20:02 EDT news694089403 When we learn something new, that information does not exist in isolation. It integrates into the complex landscape of our knowledge, forging connections with existing ideas and opening up possibilities for new learning. In a study in Nature Communications, Dartmouth researchers report a mathematical technique for mapping the unique landscape of a student's conceptual knowledge from their performance on short multiple-choice quizzes. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-mathematical-framework-landscape-student-knowledge.html Mathematics Tue, 24 Mar 2026 06:00:02 EDT news693488653 Trying to persuade people to abandon deeply held views often backfires, leaving groups entrenched and unable to move forward. A new study by researchers at the University of Bath in the UK proposes a strategy that is both surprising and more effective: encourage neutrality. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-neutrality-stabilize-decisions.html Mathematics Mon, 23 Mar 2026 00:00:01 EDT news693136514 Fashion insiders and beauty magazines have long cited the "20-year-rule"—the idea that clothing trends often resurface every two decades. According to Northwestern University scientists, that observation isn't just anecdotal. It's a mathematical reality. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-bell-bottoms-today-miniskirts-tomorrow.html Mathematics Tue, 17 Mar 2026 18:30:09 EDT news692955991 It's said that statistics don't lie, but they often don't tell the whole truth, either. A Cornell statistics expert has come up with a method he believes can boost statistical power and significantly reduce bias—vital for research involving outcomes that differ by socioeconomics, race, sex and other variables. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-statistics-truth-easy-abc.html Mathematics Tue, 17 Mar 2026 18:00:07 EDT news692968954 Networks exist in both nature—such as biological systems like food webs and gene regulatory networks—and in engineered systems as seen in power grids. Though natural and engineered systems share an overarching goal—providing a mechanism for interacting components to transmit information—one system appears to have a clear advantage, according to findings published recently by a University of New Mexico-led team. In this case, the team found that nature does it best when it comes to networks. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-networks-nature-edge.html Mathematics Tue, 17 Mar 2026 15:50:06 EDT news692978881 VUB's Data Analytics Lab has published new results showing that it is possible to develop original mathematical proofs using commercial language models. In a paper posted to the arXiv preprint server, the researchers show that OpenAI's commercial large language model ChatGPT-5.2 (Thinking) could independently solve a mathematical problem. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-chatgpt-mathematical-proofs.html Mathematics Mon, 16 Mar 2026 16:40:01 EDT news692895493 Math nerds and dessert enthusiasts unite to celebrate Pi Day every March 14, the date that represents the first three digits of the mathematical constant pi. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-pi-day-rockets-cancer-embedded.html Mathematics Sat, 14 Mar 2026 05:27:33 EDT news692684815 For over 150 years, a rule of thumb dating back to the French mathematician Pierre Ossian Bonnet has been accepted in surface theory: If the metric and mean curvature of a compact surface are known at every point, then the surface can be uniquely determined. However, a team of three mathematicians from the Technical University of Munich (TUM), the Technical University of Berlin and North Carolina State University have now managed to disprove this recognized rule. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-decades-problem-classical-geometry-compact.html Mathematics Fri, 13 Mar 2026 09:20:05 EDT news692610061 New research from the Complexity Science Hub (CSH) shows why widely used algorithms for measuring economic complexity produce trustworthy results and how these tools may benefit diverse areas such as ecology, social science, and agentic AI. The paper is published in the journal Physical Review E. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-global-lens-physics.html Mathematics Thu, 12 Mar 2026 19:20:01 EDT news692543746 David Cutler is in the spotlight for his work on a tasty-sounding mathematics problem. In January, the New York Times featured a research paper authored by Cutler and Neil Sloane, the founder of The On-line Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences. Titled "Cutting a Pancake with an Exotic Knife," the paper explores the "lazy caterer problem," or how to cut a pancake or other circular object into the most pieces with the fewest cuts. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-student-fresh-solutions-pancake-problem.html Mathematics Tue, 10 Mar 2026 14:20:01 EDT news692362537 At some point, most people have found themselves holding a tilted carton of milk or bottle of cooking oil, patiently waiting for the last drops to drip out. Now, physicists at Brown University have done the math to show just how long you might have to wait. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-liquid-kitchen-physicists.html Mathematics Sun, 08 Mar 2026 11:00:05 EDT news691923639 A comprehensive game plan and strategic tactics are critical to winning soccer, but how much does a team's unpredictability in moving the soccer ball around the pitch matter? In a new article published in PLOS One, an international team of researchers analyzed event data from top-tier association soccer competitions to provide insights into match analysis, player tactics and game strategy. https://phys.org/news/2026-02-sports-stats-unpredictable-play-winner.html Mathematics Fri, 27 Feb 2026 14:20:01 EST news691413601 Probability underpins AI, cryptography and statistics. However, as the philosopher Bertrand Russell said, "Probability is the most important concept in modern science, especially as nobody has the slightest notion what it means." https://phys.org/news/2026-02-probability-underlies-modern-world-professor.html Mathematics Mon, 23 Feb 2026 19:40:01 EST news691062597 In crowds, most people are strangers to you, and everyone else for that matter. However, until now, the effect of stranger-to-stranger interactions on the choices people make in crowds has not been properly examined. Ziqi Wang and Federico Toschi from the TU/e Department of Applied Physics and Science Education, along with Alessandro Gabbana at the University of Ferrara in Italy, explored how strangers influence people's choices in crowds at Eindhoven Centraal railway station. The research is published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. https://phys.org/news/2026-02-choices-crowds-station-strangers.html Mathematics Fri, 20 Feb 2026 13:58:15 EST news690818281 Why do some melodies feel instantly right, balanced, memorable and satisfying, even if you have never heard them before? New research from the University of Waterloo suggests that more than creativity is at play. https://phys.org/news/2026-02-secret-math-catchy-melodies.html Mathematics Thu, 19 Feb 2026 05:36:20 EST news690701761 Many personal transportation-related decisions—such as vehicle purchases—are influenced by life events, like the birth of a child or a change in employment. Modeling tools that reflect how life trajectories evolve over time enable researchers and planners to more effectively assess how people might adopt new transportation technologies. https://phys.org/news/2026-02-life-events-trends-demos-tool.html Mathematics Wed, 18 Feb 2026 20:20:03 EST news690636175 Why do some systems collapse suddenly after what seems like a minor disturbance? A single transmission line failure can cascade into widespread blackouts. A delayed shipment can ripple through a global supply chain, emptying store shelves far from the original disruption. A rumor spreading in a small online network can spark nationwide panic. In nature, a slight environmental shift can throw an ecosystem into chaos, and a local disease outbreak can quickly escalate into an epidemic. https://phys.org/news/2026-02-power-grids-epidemics-small-patterns.html Mathematics Wed, 18 Feb 2026 18:20:03 EST news690652374 The International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO) is a prestigious competition featuring talented high school students from around the world, in which competitors solve complicated mathematical problems. Geometry problems from these kinds of competitions—in particular, the formal logic and spatial reasoning involved—has been noted as a critical benchmark in artificial intelligence (AI) research. https://phys.org/news/2026-02-ai-tonggeometry-generates-olympiad-geometry.html Mathematics Tue, 17 Feb 2026 12:20:01 EST news690550181 A mystery novel, a history book, and a fantasy epic may have little in common in plot or style. But count the words inside them and a strange regularity appears: many new words show up early, then fewer and fewer as the author reuses what has already been introduced. That pattern, known as Heaps' law, turns out not to belong to books alone. A new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences finds that the same rule also describes how many complex systems grow, from living cells and corporations to universities and government agencies—and could even be used to predict how they will change in the future. https://phys.org/news/2026-02-cells-companies-diversity-scales-complex.html Mathematics Tue, 17 Feb 2026 11:49:17 EST news690551341 The amount and accuracy of passing in the game of soccer—called football across much of the world—has climbed in recent years, according to new research. The average passing volume, pass accuracy, and the percentage of passes made rose in gameplay over the last five years, with the biggest changes occurring in women's competitions, according to an article posted to the arXiv preprint server from the Network Science Sports Institute, or NetSi Sport, a new research group out of Northeastern University's Network Science Institute. Gameplay has become faster and more intense, suggesting there is greater defensive pressure. https://phys.org/news/2026-02-faster-accurate-soccer-leagues.html Mathematics Tue, 10 Feb 2026 13:40:01 EST news689945659 Artificial intelligence has attained an impressive series of feats—solving problems from the International Math Olympiad, conducting encyclopedic surveys of academic literature, and even finding solutions to some longstanding research questions. Yet these systems largely remain unable to match top experts in the conceptual frontiers of research math. Have reports of AI replacing mathematicians been greatly exaggerated? https://phys.org/news/2026-02-math-humans.html Mathematics Mon, 09 Feb 2026 20:40:01 EST news689849909 Hyesang Chang and colleagues, from Stanford University, explored why some children struggle to learn math compared to their peers in a new JNeurosci paper. Children selected which numbers were bigger than others across different trials, with quantities represented as numerical symbols or as clusters of dots. The researchers created a model based on how much performance varied over time. The model suggested that children with difficulties in learning math struggled to update their thinking approach as they continued to get different types of trials wrong. https://phys.org/news/2026-02-exploring-children-struggle-math.html Mathematics Mon, 09 Feb 2026 13:00:05 EST news689599857