The Quest to Find Rectangles in a Square

In other words, she came up with a proof that the ratio of the long sides to the short sides are "Algebraic numbers," a major topic in number theory. "I don't think we've gotten anywhere near the bottom of this yet," Dr. Baez said. Sarah Hart, a mathematician at Birkbeck, University of London - whose book, "Once Upon a Prime," which explores connections between mathematics and literature, comes out in April - called this rectangulation recreation "Awesome" and "Lovely." Continue reading the main story Dr. Hart also noted that "a lot of the most interesting problems come from recreations like this." Ms. Taams found her proof computationally, and then pondered it further. The computations produced a set of equations, she said. "And then you wonder, 'Oh, are these all the equations? Yes or no?'" She convinced herself the answer was "Yes" by just looking at three examples.