Areas of pure math such as algebra, analysis, combinatorics and many others can be used—in some cases combined—to solve the complex math problems arising from applications of math to the real world.

You can probably think of a time when you’ve used math to solve an everyday problem, such as calculating a tip at a restaurant or determining the square footage of a room. But what role does math play ...

Several years ago one of us, Toni, asked another of us, Marco, to come to his office at the Institute of Photonic Sciences, a large research center in Castelldefels near Barcelona. “There is a problem ...