If you've ever stared at a calculus word problem and had no idea where to start — you're not alone. Optimization problems trip up students at every level, from AP Calculus AB to first-year university ...

One idle evening last October, Mehtaab Sawhney took up an old pastime. He began perusing the website erdosproblems.com, an updated record of the 1,179 conjectures left behind by the eccentric and ...

What are the most pressing global crises in 2026? Each year, the International Rescue Committee’s (IRC) Emergency Watchlist identifies the countries at greatest risk of new or worsening humanitarian ...

Five years ago, mathematicians Dawei Chen and Quentin Gendron were trying to untangle a difficult area of algebraic geometry involving differentials, elements of calculus used to measure distance ...

Over the weekend, Neel Somani, who is a software engineer, former quant researcher, and a startup founder, was testing the math skills of OpenAI’s new model when he made an unexpected discovery. After ...

We walk through an optimization problem step by step, clearly explaining how to identify variables, set up the correct function, apply derivatives, and find maximum or minimum values. Each step is ...

A line of engineering research seeks to develop computers that can tackle a class of challenges called combinatorial optimization problems. These are common in real-world applications such as ...

Sven, a sales leader, received a call from a major customer who was furious. Their order arrived late, the product was damaged, and to top it off, their invoice didn’t reflect the volume discount ...

Consider someone who’s perfectly content with their office chair. It’s not ergonomic, it doesn’t have lumbar support, but it works. Then, during a meeting or a visit to a friend’s office, they sit in ...

Word problems try and tell students a story about the math problem in front of them. They are a useful way to connect abstract numbers to concrete situations, so students can learn early on to apply ...

For some high school students, statistics and other data science courses have unseated calculus as the de facto option for pursuing advanced math, in part due to targeted state efforts to expand ...