Quantum Mechanics, Free Will and the Game of Life
Some thoughts triggered by the death of the mathematician John Conway
Math1522 articles archived since 1845
The Timeless Journey of the Möbius Strip
After the disaster of 2020, let’s hope we’re not on a figurative one
Is the Schrödinger Equation True?
Just because a mathematical formula works does not mean it reflects reality
Doing the Touchy Math on Who Should Get a COVID Vaccine First
Mathematicians model pandemic scenarios by plugging thorny ethical and logistical issues into calculations
Divide and Conquer Could Be Good COVID Strategy
COVID might be fought efficiently with fewer shutdowns by restricting activities only in a particular area with a population up to 200,000 when its case rate rises above a chosen threshold...
Dissolving Candy Gives Mathematicians Insight into How Some Landscapes Form
Researchers observed a sugary treat underwater to understand the origin of spiky rock forests
Can an Algorithm Help Solve Political Paralysis?
As faith in government hits historic lows, organizers in the U.K. are trying a new math-based approach to democracy. Would it work in the bitterly divided U.S?
For Math Fans: A Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Number 42
Here is how a perfectly ordinary number captured the interest of sci-fi enthusiasts, geeks and mathematicians
Algorithm Aids Search for Those Lost at Sea
A new process pinpoints ocean “attractors” to find missing travelers
How Many Aliens Are in the Milky Way? Astronomers Turn to Statistics for Answers
The tenets of Thomas Bayes, an 18th-century statistician and minister, underpin the latest estimates of the prevalence of extraterrestrial life
The Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle of Social Science Modeling
It’s known as the “curse of dimensionality,” and it’s why our estimates of how a disease will behave will always have imprecision
Multistate Disagreement over the Length of the Foot to End
In 2023 every U.S. land surveyor will begin using a single international standard
Small Numbers Can Have Huge Impacts on Climate and Health
A number can be tiny in relative terms but hugely important nonetheless
Coronavirus Antibody Tests Have a Mathematical Pitfall
The accuracy of screening tests is highly dependent on the infection rate
The Last Root of Unity
It’s time to say goodbye to the blog
One Weird Trick to Make Calculus More Beautiful
The strange power of complex analysis
Proving a Legendary Mathematician Wrong
Remembering “Euler’s spoilers,” who showed that special magic squares exist
When Rational Points Are Few and Far Between
BEAM program manager Ruthi Hortsch shares her love of Faltings’s theorem
Diana Davis’s Beautiful Pentagons
This mathematician turns her research into fashion and toys
Pi in the Sky: General Relativity Passes the Ratio’s Test
Using gravitational waves to approximate pi, physicists see no problem with Einstein’s theory
