Wired

‘Groups’ Underpin Modern Math. Here’s How They Work

The original version of this story appeared in Quanta Magazine. Mathematics started with numbers—clear, concrete, intuitive. Over the last two centuries, however, it has become a far more abstract ...
Quanta Magazine

After 20 Years, Math Couple Solves Major Group Theory Problem

In 2003, a German graduate student named Britta Späth encountered the McKay conjecture, one of the biggest open problems in the mathematical realm known as group theory. At first her goals were ...
Quanta Magazine

‘Groups’ Underpin Modern Math. Here’s How They Work.

What do the integers have in common with the symmetries of a triangle? In the 19th century, mathematicians invented groups as an answer to this question. Mathematics started with numbers — clear, ...