2023’s Biggest Breakthroughs in Math

Quanta Magazine’s mathematics coverage in 2023 included landmark results in Ramsey theory and a remarkably simple aperiodic tile capped a year of mathematical delight and discovery. Read about more breakthroughs form this year in math at Quanta Magazine: 00:05 Ramsey Numbers One of the biggest mathematical discoveries of the past year was in graph theory where the proof of a new, tighter upper bound to Ramsey numbers. These numbers measure the size that graphs must reach before inevitably containing structures called cliques. The discovery, announced in March, was the first advance of its type since 1935. 06:21 Aperiodic Monotile The most attention-getting result of the year was the discovery of a new kind of tile that covers the plane but only in a pattern that never repeats. A two-tile combination that does this has been known since the 1970s, but the single tile, discovered by a hobbyist named Davi