Randomness

Three researchers have figured out how to craft a proof that spreads out information while keeping it perfectly secret.

Across the social and biological sciences, statisticians use a technique that leverages randomness to deal with the unknown.

Computer scientist Lance Fortnow writes that by embracing the computations that surround us, we can begin to understand and tame our seemingly random world.

The prolific researcher found deep connections between randomness and computation and spent a career influencing cryptographers, complexity researchers and more.

Russell Impagliazzo studies hard problems, the limits of cryptography, the nature of randomness and more.

How hard is it to prove that problems are hard to solve? Meta-complexity theorists have been asking questions like this for decades. A string of recent results has started to deliver answers.

Unpredictability can help computer scientists solve otherwise intractable problems.

What makes a proof stronger than a guess? What does evidence look like in the realm of mathematical abstraction? Hear the mathematician Melanie Matchett Wood explain how probability helps to guide number theorists toward certainty.

Daniel Spielman solves important problems by thinking hard — about other questions.