The original version of this story appeared in Quanta Magazine. The simplest ideas in mathematics can also be the most perplexing. Take addition. It’s a straightforward operation: One of the first ...

When this reporter, ahem, asked for a friendly reminder (wink-wink) about the math concept, Sykora explained the distributive property of multiplication. “For example, if you have 12 times 3, instead ...

National Tax Journal, Vol. 58, No. 2 (June, 2005), pp. 247-260 (14 pages) A number of economists have argued that a property tax with a lower rate applied to improvement values than to land values is ...

Students are introduced to Professor Arbegla and her amazing machine. They suggest numbers (and later geometric shapes) to go into the machine, and then analyze what comes out. Students learn to look ...