The mathematicians were trying to extend an illustrious result in their field, the Fundamental Theorem of Algebra. The astrophysicists were working on a fundamental problem in their field, the problem ...

The Monthly publishes articles, as well as notes and other features, about mathematics and the profession. Its readers span a broad spectrum of mathematical interests, and include professional ...

The Monthly publishes articles, as well as notes and other features, about mathematics and the profession. Its readers span a broad spectrum of mathematical interests, and include professional ...

Emmy Noether was a force in mathematics — and knew it. She was fully confident in her capabilities and ideas. Yet a century on, those ideas, and their contribution to science, often go unnoticed. Most ...

IT is unfortunate that F. P. Wolfkehl's legacy of a prize for settling the vexed question of “Fermat's Last Theorem” should have stimulated such a large erroneous mathematical literature. Most of the ...