How AI and quantum computing could expand mathematics’ reach

Mathematician Steven Strogatz and numerical analyst Alex Townsend argue that “big math” describes problems that exceed what people can handle mentally, even when they involve relatively few variables. Their new book explores how computation has made mathematics central to fields such as engineering, medicine and space exploration, and how AI and quantum computing may push this further.

Strogatz traces the idea of using tools to extend mathematical thinking back thousands of years, from counting devices to boards for solving equations. Today, computers can work with billions of variables, while even a lunar module’s guidance system had to manage only 20 or 30 variables at once, yet was beyond unaided human calculation. The authors ask how people can use increasingly powerful mathematical tools while ensuring that knowledge serves human purposes.