Eeny, meeny, miny, mo, catch a tiger by the toe – so the rhyme goes. But even children know that counting-out rhymes like this are no help at making a truly random choice. Perhaps you remember when ...

Prime numbers are sometimes called math’s “atoms” because they can be divided by only themselves and 1. For two millennia, mathematicians have wondered if the prime numbers are truly random, or if ...

Researchers have developed a chip-based quantum random number generator that provides high-speed, high-quality operation on a miniaturized platform. This advance could help move quantum random number ...

A quantum random-number generator has been developed that uses classical cryptography to certify that its output was produced by a quantum process. A truly random number is generated by a process ...

Jersey numbers often tell deeper stories than fans realize. For Tennessee’s 2025 NFL Draft class, the digits stitched on their backs have come to represent more than just position or tradition—they’ve ...

100 days down, 1,361 to go: ^Thank you, The Economist, for doing this math. 100 days ago, almost to the minute, President Trump was inaugurated to serve his second term. He came in vowing to install ...

As you may have noticed, I love numbers. All kinds of numbers. But let me remind you again what I love most about the numbers of baseball. They’re not just numerals on a page. The best numbers tell us ...

People are generally bad at producing random actions, but now it seems that we are all uniquely bad in our own way. This makes it possible to predict how an individual will act randomly, which could ...

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, ...