Math
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Math
Con Artist: Scanning program can discern true art
A new mathematical tool distills painting style into an array of statistics as a potential means to spot forgeries.
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- Math
Proof clarifies a map-folding problem
Researchers have developed an efficient algorithm to determine, given a collection of creases on a piece of paper, whether a sequence of simple folds produces a flat result, like a folded road map.
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- Math
The Iced Foot Effect
Does calling a timeout as a defensive strategy to "ice" a kicker in football actually reduce the chances of a successful field goal kick?
- Math
Football’s Overtime Bias
The coin toss appears to play a significant role in deciding the winner in pro football's sudden-death overtime.
- Math
Squaring Circles
Cutting a circle into pieces and reassembling the fragments to form a square is a tricky proposition.
- Math
Young Gauss
Mathematical anecdotes don't always tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth.
- Math
Prime proof zeros in on crucial numbers
A new theorem may lead to a proof of Catalan's conjecture, a venerable problem in number theory concerning consecutive powers of whole numbers.
- Math
A Catalog of Random Bits
The generation of random numbers is too important to be left to chance.
- Math
Randomness, Risk, and Financial Markets
A novel measure of disorder in a sequence of numbers can provide insights into financial markets.
- Math
Proof by Computer
Using computers to help prove theorems raises question about checking proofs.
