Safety in Numbers
Mathematics offers innovative weapons for fighting terrorism
Mathematicians don’t wear capes and tights. They are not more powerful than a locomotive and they can’t leap tall buildings in a single bound. But when it comes to protecting people from evildoers, these calculating crusaders could turn out to be super.
On the surface, fighting terrorists with mathematics sounds absurd. Yet some mathematicians and computer scientists are devising equations and algorithms that show real promise as terrorism countermeasures. From simple formulas that focus on mathematical properties underlying terrorist behavior to immense mega-analyses incorporating billions of information bits, mathematics is becoming an increasingly important weapon in the antiterror arsenal.