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Mathematics

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A Traveler Who Finds Stability in the Natural World

August 1, 2018

The mathematician Alessio Figalli is rarely in one place for very long. But his work has established the stability of everything from crystals to weather fronts by using concepts derived from Napoleonic fortifications.

Major Quantum Computing Advance Made Obsolete by Teenager

July 31, 2018

18-year-old Ewin Tang has proven that classical computers can solve the “recommendation problem” nearly as fast as quantum computers. The result eliminates one of the best examples of quantum speedup.

Solution: ‘The Slippery Math of Causation’

June 29, 2018

The all-too-intuitive picture of a straight arrow going from cause to effect is far too simplistic to describe the real world.

Mathematicians Tame Turbulence in Flattened Fluids

June 27, 2018

By squeezing fluids into flat sheets, researchers can get a handle on the strange ways that turbulence feeds energy into a system instead of eating it away.

Mathematics Shows How to Ensure Evolution

June 26, 2018

New results emerging from graph theory prove that the way a population is organized can guarantee the eventual triumph of natural selection — or permanently thwart it.

Q&A

Her Key to Modeling Brains: Ignore the Right Details

June 19, 2018

Being able to think like a physicist helps Carina Curto, a mathematician-turned-neuroscientist, pull insights about the human brain out of theoretical models.

Four Is Not Enough

June 18, 2018

How many colors do you need to color an infinite plane so that no points 1 unit apart are the same color?

The Slippery Math of Causation

May 30, 2018

If a forest is burning and we don’t know what’s responsible, does it have a cause?

A Classical Math Problem Gets Pulled Into the Modern World

May 23, 2018

A century ago, the great mathematician David Hilbert posed a probing question in pure mathematics. A recent advance in optimization theory is bringing Hilbert’s work into a world of self-driving cars.

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