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Mordechai Rorvig

Staff Writer

computational complexity

How Computer Scientists Learned to Reinvent the Proof

By Mordechai Rorvig
May 23, 2022
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Why verify every line of a proof, when just a few checks will do?

Illustration of an ornate balance demonstrating that the expression x2 + 2x + 1 weighs more than the equivalent expression (x + 1)(x + 1)
computational complexity

Computer Scientists Prove That Certain Problems Are Truly Hard

By Mordechai Rorvig
May 11, 2022
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Finding out whether a question is too difficult to ever solve efficiently depends on figuring out just how hard it is. Researchers have now shown how to do that for a major class of problems.

Illustration of a red monster with many heads, each corresponding to a word, with an array of floating words to choose from and a background showing a network’s connections
neural networks

Researchers Gain New Understanding From Simple AI

By Mordechai Rorvig
April 14, 2022
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Language processing programs are notoriously hard to interpret, but smaller versions can provide important insights into how they work.

cryptography

Cryptographers Achieve Perfect Secrecy With Imperfect Devices

By Mordechai Rorvig
February 25, 2022
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For the first time, experiments demonstrate the possibility of sharing secrets with perfect privacy — even when the devices used to share them cannot be trusted.

artificial intelligence

Computer Scientists Prove Why Bigger Neural Networks Do Better

By Mordechai Rorvig
February 10, 2022
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Two researchers show that for neural networks to be able to remember better, they need far more parameters than previously thought.

Illustration of two interweaving chains, one blue and one orange, against a blue background.
information theory

Qubits Can Be as Safe as Bits, Researchers Show

By Mordechai Rorvig
January 6, 2022
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A new result shows that quantum information can theoretically be protected from errors just as well as classical information can.

information theory

Researchers Defeat Randomness to Create Ideal Code

By Mordechai Rorvig
November 24, 2021
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By carefully constructing a multidimensional and well-connected graph, a team of researchers has finally created a long-sought locally testable code that can immediately betray whether it’s been corrupted.

A GIF of ice melting in a glass of water
mathematical physics

Mathematicians Prove Melting Ice Stays Smooth

By Mordechai Rorvig
October 6, 2021
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After decades of effort, mathematicians now have a complete understanding of the complicated equations that model the motion of free boundaries, like the one between ice and water.

A GIF showing increasingly more twists being added to the curves on a sphere.
geometry

Mathematicians Identify Threshold at Which Shapes Give Way

By Mordechai Rorvig
June 3, 2021
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A new proof establishes the boundary at which a shape becomes so corrugated, it can be crushed.

About the author

Mordechai Rorvig is a staff writer at Quanta Magazine covering computer science. He has a master’s degree in physics from the University of Wisconsin and a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from the University of Texas.

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