Articles
The Abakcus team shares their best articles to read on topics like mathematics, science, creativity, productivity and more. Ready to dive in? You can use the categories below to browse some of the best articles.
Abakcus is the collection of perfect articles about mathematics and science.
The Astonishing Math Knowledge of Honeybees
Honeybees are the greatest geometers. They have known what human mathematicians didn’t know for thousands of years.
A Conversation With Steven Strogatz
Strogatz talks about mathematics, technology, and education with Patrick Honner, a math teacher at Brooklyn Technical High School.
Ketchup Is Not Just a Condiment: It Is Also a Non-Newtonian Fluid
Do you want to learn the science behind your favorite sauce, ketchup? If yes, you should read H. Joachim Schlichting's longread.
Ten Computer Codes That Transformed Science
From Fortran to arXiv.org, these advances in programming and platforms sent biology, climate science and physics into warp speed.
Why Scientists Fall for Precariously Balanced Rocks?
Balanced rocks are nature’s hilarious accidents. Almost every scientist falls in love with precariously balanced rocks and researches them.
Why Applications of Calculus in Real Life is Essential to Make Kids Love Math?
Applications of calculus in real life is really essential to teach abstract math and make kids love mathematics.
The Coach Who Led the U.S. Math Team Back to the Top
Po-Shen Loh is the US math team coach. Quanta Magazine recently spoke with Loh about his approach to coaching.
Lessons of Immortality and Mortality From My Father, Carl Sagan
Lessons of Immortality and Mortality From My Father, Carl Sagan Learning is an article about mortality and immortality from Carl Sagan.
Topology 101: The Hole Truth
If you’re looking to pick a fight, simply ask your friends, “Is Pluto a planet?” Or “Is a hotdog a sandwich?” Or “How many holes does a straw have?” The…
Sherlock Holmes’ Most Difficult Math Problem: Bicycle Tracks
On a snowy day in London, as he was lying in bed and gazing at the ceiling, Sherlock Holmes’ mind was once again at work trying to crack yet another…
How One Man’s Bad Math Helped Ruin Decades Of English Soccer
From the more mature sabermetric movements of baseball and basketball to growing ones in soccer and hockey, evidence-based examination has led to new thoughts and ideas about the games we…
Why Nature Prefers Hexagons?
How do bees do it? The honeycombs in which they store their amber nectar are marvels of precision engineering, an array of prism-shaped cells with a perfectly hexagonal cross-section. The…
Doing the Touchy Math on Who Should Get a COVID Vaccine First?
Mathematicians model pandemic scenarios by plugging thorny ethical and logistical issues into calculations If the book of nature is written in the language of mathematics, as Galileo once declared, the…
How to Use Math to Dominate at Monopoly?
Monopoly is one of the classic American games. It’s played among close friends, loved ones, and trusted business partners. It’s also one of the few times in life where it’s…
Joe Freedman’s Amazing Cycloid Drawing Machine
I’m going to be saying many good things about Mr. Freedman’s drawing machine, so I need to clarify at the start that I have not invested in his enterprise, I…
In Defense of Pure Mathematics
After 75 years, Godfrey Harold Hardy’s A Mathematician’s Apology still fuels debate over pure versus applied mathematics. Godfrey Harold Hardy was one of the greatest number theorists of the 20th…
The Mathematics Behind Sudoku: Solving Strategy
Copy the below 9×9 grid and complete it so that each row, each column, and each 3×3 box with a wide margin contains each of the numbers 1 to 9…
Why Preschool Shouldn’t Be Like School?
New research shows that teaching kids more and more, at ever-younger ages, may backfire. Ours is an age of pedagogy. Anxious parents instruct their children more and more, at younger…
How Our 1,000-Year-Old Math Curriculum Cheats America’s Kids?
Imagine you had to take an art class in which you were taught how to paint a fence or a wall, but you were never shown the paintings of the…
What Does Randomness Look Like?
On 13 June 1944, a week after the allied invasion of Normandy, a loud buzzing sound rattled through the skies of battle-worn London. The source of the sound was a…
How to Photograph a Meteor Shower?
Taking photographs of a meteor shower can be an exercise in patience as meteors streak across the sky quickly and unannounced, but with these tips – and some good fortune…
The Complex Geometry of Islamic Design
In Islamic culture, geometry is everywhere. You can find it in mosques, madrasas, palaces and private homes. This tradition began in the 8th century CE during the early history of…
The Man Who Fell From Space: Felix Baumgartner
Sage advice can be gleaned indirectly from the words of men who’ve done amazing things. In this interview series by Jim Clash called “The Right Stuff,” we share nuggets of…
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