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Mathematics

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Where Proof, Evidence and Imagination Intersect

March 14, 2019

In mathematics, where proofs are everything, evidence is important too. But evidence is only as good as the model, and modeling can be dangerous business. So how much evidence is enough?

Math Duo Maps the Infinite Terrain of Minimal Surfaces

March 12, 2019

A pair of mathematicians has built on an obscure, 30-year-old mathematical theory to show that soap-filmlike minimal surfaces appear abundantly in a wide range of shapes.

Möbius Strips Defy a Link With Infinity

February 20, 2019

A new proof shows why an uncountably infinite number of Möbius strips will never fit into a three-dimensional space.

Smaller Is Better: Why Finite Number Systems Pack More Punch

February 11, 2019

Recent progress on the “sum product” problem recalls a celebrated mathematical result that revealed the power of miniature number systems.

How a Strange Grid Reveals Hidden Connections Between Simple Numbers

February 6, 2019

A graduate student has helped illuminate a long-suspected connection between addition and multiplication.

Foundations Built for a General Theory of Neural Networks

January 31, 2019

Neural networks can be as unpredictable as they are powerful. Now mathematicians are beginning to reveal how a neural network’s form will influence its function.

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A Movement to Close the Gender Gap in Mathematics

January 22, 2019

The Brazilian mathematician Carolina Araujo, who calls herself “a bit of an anarchist,” is organizing meetings and building a support network to study and solve the problems women face in mathematics.

Unscrambling the Hidden Secrets of Superpermutations

January 16, 2019

A science fiction novelist and an internet commenter made breakthroughs on a longstanding problem about the number of ways you can arrange a set of items. What did they discover?

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