Through exacting geometric calculations, Philip Gibbs has found the smallest known cover for any possible shape. By: Kevin Hartnett  https://www.quantamagazine.org Philip Gibbs is not a professional mathematician. So when he wanted a problem to chew on, he looked for one where even an amateur could make a difference. What he found was a challenge that could drive […]

By Perri Klass, M.d. April 24, 2017 NYTIMES.COM My mother was what we would now call math anxious, if not phobic. My daughter, on the other hand, was a math major, which always left me feeling like the transitional generation, capable of mastering standardized-test math problems and surviving college calculus (it’s one of the pre-med […]