Math
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Math
A fair deal for housemates
A new mathematical recipe for fair division allows people to resolve disputes over the splitting up of rent, goods, or even burdensome chores.
- Math
Math Prizes: Honors for connecting number theory, geometry, and algebra
Fields Medals were awarded to two mathematicians, Laurent Lafforgue and Vladimir Voevodsky, who forged new links between different branches of mathematics.
- Math
Probabilities in Bingo
One of the little pleasures of our annual winter vacation is an evening Bingo party. After a day of sledding and cross-country skiing, it’s relaxing to indulge in a social game that requires minimal thought, affords young and old the same chance of winning, and has a strong element of suspense. To play Bingo, each […]
- Math
Troublesome Weather Trends
Unlike the day or year, the week isn’t tied to any naturally recurring phenomenon. When meteorologists detect a trend that follows a weekly rhythm, they suspect that human activities–and the 5-day work week–are responsible. In 1998, researchers at Arizona State University in Tempe reported that daily oceanic rainfall shows a weekly precipitation cycle across a […]
- Math
Troublesome Weather Trends
Unlike the day or year, the week isn’t tied to any naturally recurring phenomenon. When meteorologists detect a trend that follows a weekly rhythm, they suspect that human activities–and the 5-day work week–are responsible. In 1998, researchers at Arizona State University in Tempe reported that daily oceanic rainfall shows a weekly precipitation cycle across a […]
- Math
Testing for Divisibility
The crisp new dollar bill that I have just taken from my wallet bears the serial number 24598176. It’s easy to tell that the number is exactly divisible by 2 but not by 5. Is it divisible by 3? by 4? by 11? In a 1962 Scientific American article, Martin Gardner noted that during the […]
- Math
Prepping for Calculus
The “Calculus Page” Web site provides links to a variety of resources for calculus students and teachers, from problem sets with step-by-step solutions to tips on preparing for exams. Linked sites offer online tutorials and courses, sample exams, animated examples, mathematical software, and information on calculus competitions and the history of calculus. Go to: http://www.calculus.org/
- Math
Jazzing Up Euclid’s Algorithm
Earlier this year, the journal Computing in Science & Engineering (CISE) published a list of the top 10 algorithms of the century (see http://computer.org/cise/articles/Top_Algorithms.htm). “Computational algorithms are probably as old as civilization,” Francis Sullivan of the Institute for Defense Analyses’ Center for Computing Sciences in Bowie, Md. noted in an editorial in the January/February issue […]
- Math
A Minimal Winter’s Tale
The organizers of the Breckenridge snow sculpture championships in Colorado must be getting used to having a mathematical element in their annual competition. A simple version of Enneper’s surface just before (above) and just after (below) it self-intersects. The award-winning snow sculpture of Enneper’s surface. For the second year in a row, a team assembled […]
- Math
Logic in the Blocks
Sliding-block puzzles can be surprisingly difficult to solve and can even serve as theoretical models of computation.
- Math
Home Runs and Ballparks
When baseball slugger Mark McGwire of the St. Louis Cardinals hit his record-breaking, 62nd home run on Sept. 8, 1998, the ball barely passed over the left field fence at Busch Stadium in St. Louis. The same hit would not have been a home run at, say, Fenway Park in Boston. This episode suggests an […]
- Math
Home Runs and Ballparks
When baseball slugger Mark McGwire of the St. Louis Cardinals hit his record-breaking, 62nd home run on Sept. 8, 1998, the ball barely passed over the left field fence at Busch Stadium in St. Louis. The same hit would not have been a home run at, say, Fenway Park in Boston. This episode suggests an […]
