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Kevin Hartnett

Kevin Hartnett

Contributing Writer

Twitter

Latest Articles

520px photo of Richard Schwartz
Q&A

In Praise of Simple Problems

By Kevin Hartnett
January 9, 2018
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The mathematician Richard Schwartz finds the hidden depth lurking in simple mathematical puzzles.

Simulation of Kelvin-Helmholz Instability
fluid dynamics

Mathematicians Find Wrinkle in Famed Fluid Equations

By Kevin Hartnett
December 21, 2017
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Two mathematicians prove that under certain extreme conditions, the Navier-Stokes equations output nonsense.

Jennifer Balakrishnan and Sachi Hashimoto, plotted using SageMath
Abstractions blog

Mathematicians Crack the Cursed Curve

By Kevin Hartnett
December 7, 2017
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A famously difficult mathematical problem resisted solution for over 40 years. Mathematicians have finally resolved it by following an intuition that links number theory to physics.

Minhyong Kim in front of a whiteboard
number theory

Secret Link Uncovered Between Pure Math and Physics

By Kevin Hartnett
December 1, 2017
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An eminent mathematician reveals that his advances in the study of millennia-old mathematical questions owe to concepts derived from physics.

A blue person made of code walks down a pink road patterned with hexagons
algorithms

Best-Ever Algorithm Found for Huge Streams of Data

By Kevin Hartnett
October 24, 2017
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To efficiently analyze a firehose of data, scientists first have to break big numbers into bits.

Photo of AlphaGo board by dreamdream | Quanta Magazine
Abstractions blog

Artificial Intelligence Learns to Learn Entirely on Its Own

By Kevin Hartnett
October 18, 2017
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A new version of AlphaGo needed no human instruction to figure out how to clobber the best Go player in the world — itself.

Vladimir Voevodsky
Abstractions blog

Visionary Mathematician Vladimir Voevodsky Dies at 51

By Kevin Hartnett
October 11, 2017
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Voevodsky’s friends remember him as constitutionally unable to compromise on the truth — a quality that led him to produce some of the most important mathematics of the 20th century.

Measuring tapes
infinity

Mathematicians Measure Infinities and Find They’re Equal

By Kevin Hartnett
September 12, 2017
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Two mathematicians have proved that two different infinities are equal in size, settling a long-standing question. Their proof rests on a surprising link between the sizes of infinities and the complexity of mathematical theories.

Lucy Reading-Ikkanda/Quanta Magazine
Abstractions blog

The Math That Promises to Make the World Brighter

By Kevin Hartnett
September 6, 2017
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The color of LED lights is controlled by a clumsy process. A new mathematical discovery may make it easier for us to get the hues we want.


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