When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. The Ishango bone, from Africa's Congo region, has dozens of parallel notches cut into its surface ...

Occasionally a reader suggests a topic for my column as with the above title. My thanks. This question is important because it applies to more than mathematics. For example, did Michelangelo create ...

Archaeologists working in northern Mesopotamia say they have uncovered visual patterns that look a lot like structured ...

Katie has a PhD in maths, specializing in the intersection of dynamical systems and number theory. She reports on topics from maths and history to society and animals. Katie has a PhD in maths, ...

Mathematics is the basis of all science and has come a long way since humans started counting. But when did people start doing math? The answer is complicated because abstract mathematics is thought ...