Computer models that grew from Dr. Lax’s equations have been used in medicine, aviation and weather forecasting.

This year, the Abel Prize — the field’s highest honor — has been awarded to Masaki Kashiwara, prolific Japanese mathematician ... Kashiwara has shown the world that sometimes, the simplest ...

By Siobhan Roberts The words “optimal” and “optimize” derive from the Latin “optimus,” or “best ... what mathematics can do and what people require in the real world.