In 1917, the Japanese mathematician Sōichi Kakeya posed what at first seemed like nothing more than a fun exercise in geometry. Lay an infinitely thin, inch-long needle on a flat surface, then rotate ...

Gear-obsessed editors choose every product we review. We may earn commission if you buy from a link. Why Trust Us? A 125-page proof posted to arXiv may represent a huge breakthrough in geometric ...

This is an updated version of a story first published on May 5, 2024. For many high school students returning to class, it may seem like geometry and trigonometry were created by the Greeks as a form ...