The symbols we use every day have fascinating and surprisingly recent origins, explains author Joseph Mazur in his new book A few years ago friends and I were talking about the origins of written ...

The study of mathematics has existed since ancient times. Multiplication tables and other math exercises have been found carved into Babylonian tablets from some 3,700 years ago. But the symbols that ...

Estimation, Eastaway says, is the key to getting a grip on math. You already do it all the time, but you don’t learn it in school as a distinct mathematical skill because math is supposed to be, well, ...

Exclusive: one of the greatest conceptual breakthroughs in mathematics has been traced to the Bakhshali manuscript, dating from the 3rd or 4th century Nowt, nada, zilch: there is nothing new about ...