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Mathematics news
Nessie loves a sunny summer's day—how anecdotes become data
New research from the University of St Andrews has used a database of Loch Ness Monster reports to translate anecdotes into data, shedding light on statistical biases and the importance of defining the right information for ...
Mathematics
Mar 5, 2025
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The math behind social distancing: The rules that influence epidemic behavior
Studying epidemics can help us plan for the future and identify better ways of dealing with them. Now, in a new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a multi-institutional research team led ...
Mathematics
Mar 4, 2025
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Mathematical model improves prediction of human mobility between cities
How many people will travel during a given week between two specific cities? Answering this question is important for many reasons, for example, to design efficient public transport infrastructures, or, as was the case during ...
Mathematics
Feb 27, 2025
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What's the shape of the universe? Mathematicians use topology to study its shape and everything in it
When you look at your surrounding environment, it might seem like you're living on a flat plane. After all, this is why you can navigate a new city using a map: a flat piece of paper that represents all the places around ...
Mathematics
Feb 26, 2025
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From slime molds to corporations, traveling networks chart a new path
You can learn a lot from a little slime mold. For Nate Cira, assistant professor of biomedical engineering in Cornell Engineering, the tiny eukaryotic organism provided inspiration for modeling "traveling networks"—connected ...
Mathematics
Feb 26, 2025
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Mathematicians introduce crossing matrices to decode doubly periodic weaves
Doubly periodic weaves—entangled structures with repeating patterns in two independent directions—pose a mathematical challenge. Originally conceived to model real-world structures, such as woven textiles and molecular ...
Mathematics
Feb 25, 2025
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Model suggests voter turnout alone can predict election victory margins
Elections are a well-documented example of collective human decision-making, with voting data available for elections globally over several decades. SFI Complexity Postdoctoral Fellow Aanjaneya Kumar, along with former colleagues ...
Mathematics
Feb 17, 2025
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AI program plays the long game to solve decades-old math problems
A game of chess requires its players to think several moves ahead, a skill that computer programs have mastered over the years. Back in 1996, an IBM supercomputer famously beat the then world chess champion Garry Kasparov. ...
Mathematics
Feb 12, 2025
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Can math save content creators? A new model proposes fairer revenue distribution methods for streaming services
As more consumers turn to subscription-based platforms, the distribution of revenue in streaming services has become a crucial issue in the digital economy. Content creators and artists argue that the current models are opaque, ...
Mathematics
Feb 12, 2025
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Scientists analyze branch patterns in trees and art, from da Vinci to Mondrian
The math that describes the branching pattern of trees in nature also holds for trees depicted in art—and may even underlie our ability to recognize artworks as depictions of trees.
Mathematics
Feb 11, 2025
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The butterfly effect: This obscure mathematical concept has become an everyday idea, but do we have it all wrong?
In 1972, the US meteorologist Edward Lorenz asked a now-famous question: "Does the flap of a butterfly's wings in Brazil set off a tornado in Texas?"
Mathematics
Feb 6, 2025
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Risk it or kick it? Research analyzes NFL coaches' risk tolerance on fourth down
During the Super Bowl, every decision matters. With millions of fans watching, the game often comes down to a single play call. And no call is more scrutinized than what a coach decides to do on fourth down. Punt? Attempt ...
Mathematics
Feb 6, 2025
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Spanish 'running of the bulls' festival reveals crowd movements can be predictable, above a certain density
The collective motion of large crowds may be predictable past a certain density of people in a given area, according to a study published in Nature. The findings, based on four years of observations at a traditional Spanish ...
Mathematics
Feb 5, 2025
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Kids use different math skills at work vs. school, India study shows
In India, many kids who work in retail markets have good math skills. They can quickly perform a range of calculations to complete transactions. But as a new study shows, these kids often perform much worse on the same kinds ...
Mathematics
Feb 5, 2025
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Parents' math anxiety linked to lower numeracy skills in children
New research findings reveal that parents' anxiety about mathematics can have a negative impact on their children's early numeracy skills, influencing their performance in the subject as they progress through school.
Mathematics
Feb 3, 2025
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Barbecue grill approach helps researchers understand puzzling Rayleigh–Bloch waves
So-called Rayleigh–Bloch waves can release an enormous amount of energy that can damage technical systems under certain circumstances. They only exist below a precisely defined cut-off frequency; above this, they disappear ...
Mathematics
Feb 3, 2025
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Scientists map the mathematics behind how we create and innovate
A new study in Nature Communications explores the dynamics of higher-order novelties, identifying fascinating patterns in how we combine existing elements to create novelty, potentially reshaping our understanding of human ...
Simple mathematical model predicts development of cultural structures observed in human societies
How clans form and evolve within human societies has been modeled using a simple computer model developed by a RIKEN researcher and a collaborator. This demonstration opens the way to modeling complex human social phenomena ...
Mathematics
Jan 23, 2025
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Art analysis: 2D multifractal tools examine Jackson Pollock's expressionism
The temperature changes hour to hour and day to day; exchange rates behave no differently. Wherever studies of the variability of similar one-dimensional time series are concerned, analyses based on multifractals have managed ...
Mathematics
Jan 16, 2025
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Mathematical technique 'opens the black box' of AI decision-making
Western researchers have developed a novel technique using math to understand exactly how neural networks make decisions—a widely recognized but poorly understood process in the field of machine learning.
Mathematics
Jan 13, 2025
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More news
Mathematician solves the moving sofa problem
Why are boys outperforming girls in math?
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Bacterial 'jumping genes' can target and control chromosome ends
European rocket successfully carries out first commercial mission
Salt-based catalysts enable selective production of mirror-image molecules
A dark energy driven by star formation
