The famous mathematical ratio, estimated to more than 22 trillion digits (and counting), is the perfect symbol for our species’ long effort to tame infinity. By Steven Strogatz This article, ...

In the Idea of Limits video, we introduce the idea of limits and discuss how it underpins all of the major concepts in calculus. In the Limit Laws video, we introduce the limit laws and discuss how to ...

Receive emails about upcoming NOVA programs and related content, as well as featured reporting about current events through a science lens. Reviel Netz: Something which is equal to some of its parts.

NOVA: How do mathematicians define infinity? Netz: Something which is equal to some of its parts. That's really the technical definition. NOVA: Is there a difference between the mathematical concept ...

Calculus underpins many of the greatest ideas about how the universe works: Newton’s Laws, Maxwell’s Equations, quantum theory. It’s been used to develop ubiquitous technologies, like GPS. It was even ...

It turns out that according to a recent discovery in an ancient manuscript, calculus might first have been discovered not by Newton or Leibniz in the 1700s but by Archimedes a millenium earlier: For ...