mathematics

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'Astonishing' Clay Tablet May Rewrite Math History

Babylonian insights predate calculus

(Newser) - A newly deciphered clay tablet from ancient Babylon has science writers buzzing because it just might "rewrite the history of mathematics," as Live Science puts it. The tablet shows that Babylonians were using sophisticated geometric principles to track the path of Jupiter in the sky, says researcher Mathieu...

NFL Player to Begin Work on Math PhD

Urschel will spend the offseason crunching numbers at MIT

(Newser) - Baltimore Ravens offensive lineman John Urschel is 6 feet 3 inches tall and weighs 305 pounds—but his brain may be more intimidating than his bulk. The 24-year-old, who already holds two math degrees, will begin his math PhD at MIT this offseason, specializing in spectral graph theory, numerical linear...

Behold the Biggest Prime Number Ever—All 22M Digits

It was discovered on a computer that went in for routine maintenance

(Newser) - The longest prime number ever found has been discovered by a computer in Missouri, and it's a doozy: 274,207,281–1 has 22,338,618 digits, the Guardian reports. The number also known as M74207281 was found by a computer tied to the Great Internet Mersenne Prime Search...

Scientists May Be Close to Solving Ancient Incan Riddle
Scientists May Be Close to Solving Ancient Inca Riddle
in case you missed it
Jan 4, 2016 7:41 AM CST

Scientists May Be Close to Solving Ancient Inca Riddle

The 500-year-old khipus from Incahuasi were found with corresponding foods

(Newser) - When archaeologists unearthed nearly 30 "talking knots" at the archaeological complex of Incahuasi in Peru in 2014, the 500-year-old bounty was notable because the knots, called khipus, had only previously been documented in graves, reported Discovery at the time. This left scientists little to go on aside from the...

Math Model Helps Answer Riddle of Tiger's Stripes

Researchers can better explain why they're vertical or horizontal

(Newser) - Since the 1950s mathematicians have been trying to sort out exactly why some animals, like tigers and zebras, have stripes that are oriented perpendicularly to their spines, while others, like the zebrafish, have stripes that are parallel. Now Harvard researchers are proposing a mathematical model in the journal Cell Systems...

Has a Nigerian Professor Solved a 156-Year-Old Math Problem?

Probably not

(Newser) - "I know this will come to you as a surprise because you do not know me, prestigious mathematical institute. I am Dr. Opeyemi Enoch of Nigeria, and I have solved your unsolvable math problem. Please send me $1 million prize, and I believe that at the end of the...

Dad's 'Common Core' Check to School Goes Viral

But some say he's doing more harm than good

(Newser) - Last week, a frustrated Ohio dad posted a picture on Facebook —and now it's been shared more than 27,000 times and he's semi-famous. Doug Herrmann posted a picture of a check he wrote to his kids' elementary school which, he said, used Common Core math. Instead...

STEM Shocker: Intel Drops Science Contest

Company has been supporter of prestigious high school competition since 1998

(Newser) - "Wanted: Respected corporation with deep pockets and deep roots in the STEM arena to take over prestigious science and math competition." That's basically the ad the Society for Science and the Public now has to place to replace Intel, which has announced it will no longer sponsor...

Teen Catches Old Math Error at Boston Museum

It's finally fixed

(Newser) - People have been visiting the Mathematica exhibit at Boston's Museum of Science for more than twice as long as Joseph Rosenfeld has been alive. But it wasn't until the 15-year-old Virginia resident paid a visit that its math error was fixed, reports Boston.com . The teen noticed that...

'Cheryl's Birthday' Math Problem Puzzles World

Question for Singapore students goes viral

(Newser) - Never mind the color of that dress : When is Cheryl's birthday? The latest viral puzzler to stump the Internet started out as a question for students in Singapore and spread around the world after it was posted here , reports the Washington Post . Students were asked to determine the birthday...

WWII Codebreaker's Notebook Sells for $1M

Turing notes show steps toward modern computing

(Newser) - A notebook that sheds light on how British mathematician Alan Turing helped invent modern computing—and win World War II—was sold for just over $1 million at an auction in New York yesterday. The 56-page handwritten notebook dates from 1942, when Turing was helping crack Nazi Germany's Enigma...

A Beautiful Mind Genius Wins Math Honor

John Nash gets prestigious Abel Prize

(Newser) - American mathematicians John F. Nash Jr. and Louis Nirenberg have won this year's Abel Prize in mathematics. The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters said today that the two "mathematical giants of the 20th century" made breakthroughs that have become "essential tools for the study of nonlinear...

Pi Day Is Especially Remarkable This Year

Math fans, get excited for 9:26am

(Newser) - It's a big day for math lovers—even bigger than your typical Pi Day . The event is celebrated on March 14, or 3/14, each year in honor of the number, whose first digits are 3.14. But a single second this year marks a once-in-a-century occurrence that covers the...

A Lot of Mathematicians Have Met Awful Fates

And one of them has decided to keep track

(Newser) - Those who visit the homepage of a Rutgers mathematician could be checking his office hours or what papers he's written. But it's far more likely that they're there to access a link that appears, without fanfare, on a page mathematics PhD student Kellen Myers has simply titled...

Mathematician: I Solved It, but Nobody Understands It
Mathematician: I Solved It, but Nobody Understands It
in case you missed it
Jan 17, 2015 5:16 PM CST

Mathematician: I Solved It, but Nobody Understands It

Japanese professor says he conquered old math problem, but others can't verify

(Newser) - A Japanese mathematician swears he's solved one of the biggest problems in the world of math. The problem is, nobody, not even fellow mathematicians of the highest caliber, can understand Shinichi Mochizuki's proof of something called the ABC conjecture, reports New Scientist . It doesn't help that the...

Parents Go to School to Grasp Kids' Math

Students learn math in a new way with Common Core

(Newser) - Think math was hard when you went to school? Then check out new Common Core standards in elementary and high schools, which are so different from "old school" methods that parents are attending school to learn how it works—alongside their children, the Washington Post reports. "The toughest...

Professor: I&#39;ve Got Proof Black Holes Don&#39;t Exist
Professor: I've Got Proof Black Holes Don't Exist
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Sep 28, 2014 7:03 AM CDT

Professor: I've Got Proof Black Holes Don't Exist

Math just doesn't add up, argues UNC physicist

(Newser) - Massive stars don't just fade away, they collapse into black holes, right? Even non-scientists have at least a vague notion of these mysterious forces of nature out there in deep space. Well, sorry to spoil everybody's fun, but a physics professor at the University of North Carolina says...

Why It's Hard to Learn Math in English

Words like "eleven" mess us up

(Newser) - When it comes to learning math, English speakers face a disadvantage that has nothing to do with the classroom environment. Research suggests that the English language simply makes it hard to talk about numbers, the Wall Street Journal reports. A key reason comes when kids reach the number 11: A...

First Woman Wins 'Math's Nobel Prize'

Stanford's Maryam Mirzakhani awarded Fields Medal

(Newser) - An Iranian-born Stanford University professor has become the first woman to win the Fields Medal—the most prestigious prize in mathematics, and one that the San Jose Mercury News describes as "math's Nobel Prize." Maryam Mirzakhani, 37, is one of four mathematicians under 40 being awarded the...

Brutal Beating Turns Man Into Math Whiz
Brutal Beating Turns Man
Into Math Whiz
in case you missed it
May 10, 2014 11:42 AM CDT

Brutal Beating Turns Man Into Math Whiz

Jason Padget can visualize math objects since savage attack

(Newser) - A furniture salesman from Tacoma, Washington, is now a math whiz who can easily visualize mathematical objects—and all it took was a few blows to the head, LiveScience reports. Jason Padget was leaving a karaoke bar in 2002 when two men savagely beat him, leaving him with PTSD, a...

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