"Hearst Magazines and Yahoo may earn commission or revenue on some items through these links." Before we get to the good stuff, here’s some quick and dirty context. Algebra is a huge umbrella term ...

The original version of this story appeared in Quanta Magazine. Mathematics started with numbers—clear, concrete, intuitive. Over the last two centuries, however, it has become a far more abstract ...

Gear-obsessed editors choose every product we review. We may earn commission if you buy from a link. Why Trust Us? Representation theory transforms abstract algebra groups into things like simpler ...