Scientific American spoke to Rojas about this history, the deeply engaging humanity of mathematics and the egos at play in defining the mathematical language we take for granted today.

Symbol equations are a quick way of representing chemical reactions. They show us what atoms are involved and how they are bonded together. Symbol equations always take the form, reactants → ...

Now, a new paper suggests that one of the world’s earliest writing systems may have been influenced by older symbols engraved on small cylinders. These stone “cylinder seals” helped our ...

Nonetheless, the idea has surfaced or resurfaced with a thorough analysis of symbols and writing, and necessity might have ...