December 12, 2024
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7 Coolest Mathematical Discoveries of 2024
This year’s new mathematical discoveries include unsolvable problems, multidimensional rings, new prime numbers, and more
Exploring Einstein Tiles – Shapes never seen before in mathematics.
Mathematicians are very busy this year. They discovered the largest prime number ever, a new formula for pi, mysterious patterns in the music of Johann Sebastian Bach, and even a whole new kind of shape. Some of these discoveries are practical. For example, newly discovered shapes are appearing in nature and being used in creative architectural designs. Some are less useful, such as a 41 million-digit prime number, but all are fascinating. Here are some of the most exciting mathematical discoveries we’ve written about this year.
new shape drop
A mathematician wondered how few corners a shape could have to completely cover a surface without any gaps. This difficulty led him and his colleagues to discover a shape never previously described mathematically, called a soft cell. In a first for mathematicians, soft cells have been found to exist in nautilus shells, red blood cells, and other natural elements.
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super long prime
Prime numbers (numbers that are only divisible by 1 and themselves) have long fascinated mathematicians. This year, a researcher discovered the largest known prime number with a whopping 41,024,320 digits. It’s been six years since the last new prime number was discovered, but the search is becoming increasingly difficult because prime numbers spread farther apart from each other as they grow.
Pi’s new recipes
The concept of pi (π), the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter, has been well known for 4,000 years, since ancient Babylonia. However, calculating the exact digits of this irrational number has always been difficult. Recently, physicists have devised a completely new way to calculate pi using string theory.
multidimensional wheels
For 40 years, mathematicians have pondered the question, “How can I find a shape with the smallest volume and constant width in any dimension?” Researchers recently envisioned a new kind of multidimensional wheel to answer this question. The new winged wheels are a fraction of the size of traditional rolling shapes such as circles and spheres and can be built to any dimension.
calculate the immeasurable
This breakthrough has to do with a fundamental truth in mathematics. No matter how hard you try (or how busy you are), you can’t calculate everything. Certain uncomputable expressions are called busy beaver functions. Its value is BB(n), we will never know all the quantities. yeah, But an international collaborative project called the Busy Beaver Challenge recently succeeded in determining the fifth value of the function, surprising mathematicians who thought it was impossible.
Prelude to Bach’s Clavier music.
PFM Photostock/Getty Images
JS Bach’s hidden messages
Scientists converted the musical scores written by Baroque composer Johann Sebastian Bach into mathematical networks and analyzed how they vary between his different styles. They used information theory to find patterns in his music that helped explain how Bach conveyed messages, including musical, mathematical, and emotional information, through his works.
lost tiles
Mathematicians have long wondered whether it is possible to tile a surface with a single shape, that is, completely cover a plane, without creating a repeating pattern. . Many have wondered if such a shape, called an Einstein tile, could exist, and researchers have finally discovered it. The tile was unveiled in 2023, but one of the mathematicians involved gave us a behind-the-scenes look at the story this year.
