Mathematics

New Free Software Can Radically Change City Planning Worldwide

A version of this article with less scientific details (so easier to read) can be found here. A team of Portuguese researchers have developed a mathematical tool that can classify any region in the world according to its pattern of development into one of ...

Article - Catarina Amorim - Aug 20 2012 - 2:01pm

New Free Software Can Radically Change Urban Planning (versionB)

A team of Portuguese researchers have developed amathematical tool that can classify any region in the world according to itspattern of development into one of 5 types- each with specific characteristicsand predictable behaviours- that call for different ...

Article - Catarina Amorim - Aug 18 2012 - 2:59am

Young Biologists Can Develop Their Maths Skills, If You Have Examples

Biologists of the coming decade are going to need to know a whole lot of physics, math and statistics. Everyone is going to need to do more math, really. The days when it was just a language science used here and there is long gone. ...

Article - News Staff - Oct 2 2012 - 11:30am

The Mathematics Of Autumn's Effect On Global Warming

Leaves store carbon. In the spring, leaves soak up carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, converting the gas into organic carbon compounds, and then in the autumn, trees shed those leaves, which decompose in the soil as they are eaten by microbes. Over time, ...

Article - News Staff - Oct 3 2012 - 8:43pm

In Theoretical Mathematics, Breaking The Speed Of Light Is Easy

In a pinch and need to go back in time or flee to Alpha Centauri in a hurry?  Find a mathematician, quick! If only Einstein's theory of special relativity were extended to work beyond the speed of light, things would be easy.   But of course Einstein& ...

Article - News Staff - Oct 14 2012 - 5:00am

The Music Of The Primes- Literally

The link between mathematics and music has always been there- our ears hear in frequencies and even before those frequencies were known in physics terms, ancient philosopher-scientists had determined that the language of math linked areas as remote as plan ...

Article - News Staff - Oct 24 2012 - 5:43pm

How Accurate Are Those Political Polls?

Nate Silver, a sports statistician, made waves when he accurately projected the results of the presidential election in 2008.  So a few days go when he predicted that President Obama was 75% likely to win when polls only showed the candidates were about ev ...

Article - Hank Campbell - Nov 6 2012 - 10:37pm

Do Biases And Analytical Improvements Of Polls Help Predict Elections?

The most startling thing to me about the election of 2012 was how spookily accurate polls were.  Social scientists in one camp want to dismiss determinism while the other camp has biology-envy but either the deterministic side got a big boost on Tuesday or ...

Article - Hank Campbell - Nov 14 2012 - 5:40pm

Paradoxes, Math And Why You Should Never Sit Ben Roethlisberger

We all love paradoxes, those seemingly consistent logical brain-teasers where we sort out what can and should and might and must happen and that invariably lead to self-contradictory arguments. If you are like me and my friends, there is nothing you enjoy ...

Article - Hank Campbell - Nov 13 2012 - 10:49pm

Statistical Physics Attacks St. Petersburg: Paradox Resolved

In the history of statistics, economy and decision theory, the St. Petersburg paradox plays a key role. This lottery problem goes back a full three centuries to the mathematician Nicolas Bernoulli who first formulated the problem in 1713. Twenty five years ...

Article - Johannes Koelman - Nov 19 2012 - 12:03pm