Consider this sequence of numbers: 5, 7, 9. Can you spot the pattern? Here’s another with the same pattern: 15, 19, 23. One more: 232, 235, 238. “Three equally spaced things,” says Raghu Meka, a ...

Some mathematical patterns are so subtle you could search for a lifetime and never find them. Others are so common that they seem impossible to avoid. A new proof by Sarah Peluse of the University of ...

You glance at your phone: 11:11. Your coffee costs $11.11. A license plate reads 111. If these repeating digits keep catching your eye, you might be wondering if there’s more to it than chance.