Imagine trying to stack oranges as tightly as possible so that no space is wasted. Simple enough in a grocery store. Now imagine doing it in a world with eight dimensions, a space that exists not in ...

In 2016, a mathematician quietly solved a problem that had remained open since the time of Isaac Newton and Johannes Kepler. Her name is Maryna Viazovska. The problem is known as the sphere packing ...

How bees, beer cans and big data all solve the same problem: not enough space. By Steven Strogatz Photo illustrations by Jens Mortensen Each installment of “Math, Revealed” starts with an object, ...