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Kevin Hartnett

Kevin Hartnett

Contributing Writer

Twitter

Latest Articles

Art for "With Ruler and Compass, Amateur Mathematician Tames Fiendish Problem"
geometry

Amateur Mathematician Finds Smallest Universal Cover

By Kevin Hartnett
November 15, 2018
Comment
Read Later

Through exacting geometric calculations, Philip Gibbs has found the smallest known cover for any possible shape.

Abstractions blog

New Proof Shows Infinite Curves Come in Two Types

By Kevin Hartnett
November 7, 2018
Comment
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Alexander Smith’s work on the Goldfeld conjecture reveals fundamental characteristics of elliptic curves.

number theory

Without a Proof, Mathematicians Wonder How Much Evidence Is Enough

By Kevin Hartnett
October 31, 2018
Comment
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A new statistical model appears to undermine long-held assumptions in number theory. How much should it be trusted when all that really matters is proof?

Art for "A Proof About Where Symmetries Can’t Exist"
geometry

A Proof About Where Symmetries Can’t Exist

By Kevin Hartnett
October 23, 2018
Comment
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In a major mathematical achievement, a small team of researchers has proven Zimmer’s conjecture.

Art for "Machine Learning Confronts the Elephant in the Room"
artificial intelligence

Machine Learning Confronts the Elephant in the Room

By Kevin Hartnett
September 20, 2018
Comment
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A visual prank exposes an Achilles’ heel of computer vision systems: Unlike humans, they can’t do a double take.

Art for "Why Mathematicians Can’t Find the Hay in a Haystack"
Abstractions blog

Why Mathematicians Can’t Find the Hay in a Haystack

By Kevin Hartnett
September 17, 2018
Comment
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In math, sometimes the most common things are the hardest to find.

Illustration of a complex shape casting a shadow
geometry

Tinkertoy Models Produce New Geometric Insights

By Kevin Hartnett
September 5, 2018
Comment
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An upstart field that simplifies complex shapes is letting mathematicians understand how those shapes depend on the space in which you visualize them.

algorithms

Universal Method to Sort Complex Information Found

By Kevin Hartnett
August 13, 2018
Comment
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The nearest neighbor problem asks where a new point fits into an existing data set. A few researchers set out to prove that there was no universal way to solve it. Instead, they found such a way.

Photo illustration of Caucher Birkar
2018 Fields Medal and Nevanlinna Prize

An Innovator Who Brings Order to an Infinitude of Equations

By Kevin Hartnett
August 1, 2018
Comment
Read Later

The mathematician Caucher Birkar was born on a subsistence farm and raised in the middle of the brutal war between Iran and Iraq. After fleeing to England, he has gone on to impose order on a wild landscape of mathematical equations.


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