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 ...

“Our goal was to build a clear mathematical bridge between abstract algebra and the experience of listening to music,” said study co-author Olga Ibragimova. “When we think of melodies as shapes we can ...

Receive emails about upcoming NOVA programs and related content, as well as featured reporting about current events through a science lens. Symmetry also has an aesthetic meaning, although this is ...

Big Idea – We can describe, measure, and compare spatial relationships. to build on students' knowledge of line symmetry and develop students' reasoning with properties of symmetry to develop an ...

Snowflakes, nature's tiny artworks, owe their six-sided symmetry to the hexagonal arrangement of water molecules in ice. As they fall through clouds, varying temperatures and humidity dictate their ...

The 2008 Abel Prize was awarded to John Griggs Thompson of the University of Florida and Jacques Tits of the Collège de France for their contributions to group theory, the mathematical field that ...

Big Idea – We can describe, measure, and compare spatial relationships. to build on students' knowledge of symmetry and develop students' reasoning with properties of symmetry to develop an ...

The International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO) is a prestigious competition featuring talented high school students from ...

Breakthroughs in physics sometimes require an assist from the field of mathematics—and vice versa. In 1912, Albert Einstein, then a 33-year-old theoretical physicist at the Eidgenössische Technische ...