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Like many math students, I had dreams of mathematical greatness. I thought I was close once. A difficult algebra problem in college kept me working late into the night. After hours of struggle, I felt ...

A basic feature of number theory, prime numbers are also a fundamental building block of computer science, from hashtables to cryptography. Everyone knows that a prime number is one that cannot be ...

For those who number ourselves among the algebraically impaired, higher math is like outer space—a forbidding frontier; a sphere of unknowns, peril and, as has been proved often enough, drama. It ...

Find one million consecutive positive numbers, none of which are prime. Ancient math tells us that prime numbers (2, 3, 5, 7, 11, ...,), which have no factors except for 1 and themselves, go on ...

Having a positive mindset in math may do more than just help students feel more confident about their skills and more willing to keep trying when they fail; it may prime their brains to think better.