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.

Our February Insights puzzle sent readers on a treasure hunt based on complex numbers. First we provided a bit of a primer, demonstrating that complex numbers (expressions of the form a + bi, where ...

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 ...