Math
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Math
Unlocking Puzzling Polygons
Proof settles a wickedly prickly question about unfurling crinkly polygons.
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- Math
Prime conjecture verified to new heights
Computations show that all even integers up to 4 x 1014 can be written as the sum of two prime numbers, lending support to the Goldbach conjecture.
- Math
The Power of Partitions
Writing a whole number as the sum of smaller numbers springs a mathematical surprise.
- Math
Pursuing punctured polyhedra
A mathematician has proved that it's possible to construct a mathematical shape made up of flat faces and straight edges in which every face has a "hole" where the vertex of one constituent polyhedron pokes into the face of another.
- Math
Super Bowls and stock markets
The predictive power of the Super Bowl "theory," which involves an apparent correlation between stock market performance and the results of the National Football League championship game, has declined precipitously in recent years.
- Math
Changes of Mathematical State
Untangling a web of conflicting demands can be tough on computers.
- Math
Spinning to a rolling stop
Air viscosity makes the rolling speed of a spinning, tipping coin go up as its energy goes down until the coin suddenly stops.
- Math
Traffic woes of the single driver
At moderate traffic volumes, a single car moving at randomly fluctuating speeds can cause traffic jams in its wake.
- Math
Whirling to a chaotic finale
A black hole paired with another body can succumb to chaos when they orbit each other, making it more difficult to detect gravitational waves produced by such objects.
- Math
Orbiting in a figure-eight loop
Three gravitationally interacting bodies of equal mass can, according to precise calculations, trace out a figure-eight-shape orbit in space.
- Math
Random packing of spheres
A new definition of random packing allows a more consistent and mathematically precise approach to characterizing disordered arrangements of identical spheres.
