Instrument
The Tabulator: A Machine That Counted Tables Long Before Excel
In the history of computing, a tabulator was a machine that processed statistical data recorded on punched cards.
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Articles, problems and notes on mathematics. Browse by topic or article type.
Essay
Bhaskara II’s Algebra in Verse: Learning Mathematical Rules by Heart
Much of the classical mathematical literature in Sanskrit was written in verse, a familiar way to preserve and transmit knowledge in medieval India.
Essay
Girih: When Ornament Becomes Mathematics
Girih patterns in Islamic art bring together geometry, symmetry and craftsmanship, with intriguing connections to the golden ratio and quasiperiodic tilings.
Essay
A Māori Mathematical Mystery: Counting by Elevens
A report that Māori counted by elevens became a historical mathematical mystery, revealing the risks of misunderstanding another culture’s counting practices.
Essay
YBC 7289: How the Babylonians Calculated √2 with Remarkable Accuracy
The palm-sized Babylonian tablet YBC 7289 records a strikingly accurate approximation to √2 and offers a glimpse of ancient scribal mathematics.
Essay
Al-Biruni and the Earth: Finding a Planet’s Radius from a Single Mountain
In the eleventh century, Abu Rayhan al-Biruni showed how a mountain, a few angles and trigonometry could reveal the radius of the Earth.
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The Mediant of Two Fractions: The Freshman's Sum
The mediant combines numerators and denominators and explains practical averages in sport, travel, trade and mixtures.
Essay
Inca Khipu: Mathematics in Knots
In the Andes, khipu stored and transmitted information through cords, knots, colours and their relationships, supporting Inca administration.
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MCCME: Seminars for Mathematics Teachers, 2025–2026
At 11 Bolshoy Vlasyevsky Lane in Moscow, the Moscow Center for Continuous Mathematical Education hosts a longstanding seminar for mathematics teachers.
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The Maya and Zero: A Fundamental Mathematical Idea in the Americas
The Maya independently developed positional number notation with a zero sign, an essential working part of their calendar calculations.
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Japanese Sangaku: Geometry Displayed in Temples
In Edo-period Japan, geometric problems were painted on wooden tablets and displayed in shrines and temples as offerings and challenges. These were sangaku.
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Palindromic Numbers: Reading Backwards
A palindrome is a number, letter sequence, word or text that reads the same in both directions.
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The Chinese Remainder Theorem
A legend about counting soldiers leads to the Chinese remainder theorem: recovering an integer from its remainders modulo pairwise coprime numbers.
Essay
Under the Sign of Kvant
The 166th Mathematics Teachers' Seminar explored the history of Kvant and the possibilities of its new digital archive.
Problem
Lewis Carroll's Pirate Puzzle
Lewis Carroll’s pirate puzzle asks for the smallest possible overlap among four groups, illustrated through set operations and a direct logical argument.
Instrument
A Folded Universe: What Does an Ordinary Tape Measure Hide?
A tape measure is a flexible graduated strip, rolled into a case, for measuring lengths and perimeters.
Essay
Mordkovich's Seminar in Minsk
The 44th International Seminar on creativity in mathematics and computer science brought 205 participants to Minsk on 25–27 September 2025.
Instrument
The T-Square: A Tool for Engineers, Architects and Draftspeople
The T-square is a drawing ruler with a perpendicular crosspiece at one end, used to draw parallel lines.
Essay
The Göttingen School: A Golden Age of Mathematical Thought
We must know; we shall know. David Hilbert, Göttingen.
Essay
The Lusitania School: An Order of Geniuses and a Theatre of Mathematics
Nikolai Luzin’s Lusitania united pioneering mathematics, a remarkable generation of pupils and a playful culture of intellectual fellowship.
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