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Mathematics news
More than half of adults in US say they lack basic statistical understanding
From the daily weather forecast to a baseball player's batting average to an individual's risk of developing lung cancer, understanding statistics can help people in the United States navigate their lives, according to Mark ...
Mathematics
Aug 21, 2026
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Dice design solves board gaming's most surprisingly complex problem—who goes first?
It took nearly 15 years, researchers around the world and enough computing power to search through a universe of possibilities to answer one question: Who goes first?
Mathematics
Aug 17, 2026
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157
Can math prove that Humpty Dumpty was simply mismanaged?
Humpty Dumpty had all the king's horses and all the king's men, but it wasn't enough to put him back together again. This raises the question: How many horses and men did he actually need?
Mathematics
Aug 17, 2026
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7
Quantum Latin squares cannot solve Euler's 36 officers problem without entanglement
Latin squares are arrangements of symbols in a grid in which every symbol appears exactly once in each row and column. These symbol arrangements, which were first studied more than three centuries ago, are now widely used ...
Consistency-based rewards could build lasting cooperation better than punishing free-riders
A vaccine only protects a whole community if enough people get it, including those who would stay safe anyway once their neighbors are covered. The same tension runs through climate action and social movements: The shared ...
Mathematics
Aug 11, 2026
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When it comes to predicting people's preferences, it pays to consider 'the power of three'
In his 1927 paper, "A law of comparative judgment," the American psychologist L. L. Thurstone proposed that when people select one option among multiple alternatives, they are picking the one that has the highest value to ...
Mathematics
Aug 10, 2026
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Generative AI has changed mathematics forever. Where to from here?
A little over a week ago, artificial intelligence company OpenAI announced 10 advances in mathematics and computer science made with its as-yet-unreleased model Astra. The discoveries cover a wide range of mathematical fields, ...
Mathematics
Aug 10, 2026
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Building better prediction models for consumer choices
As consumers, we are constantly making choices about things like what to eat at a restaurant, what clothing to buy at a store and the type of car we'd like to purchase, and so much more. Savvy producers of such goods look ...
Mathematics
Aug 6, 2026
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Math shows why your vote may not count the way you think it does
Mathematicians have shown that completely fair elections are—in a sense—impossible. No electoral system can guarantee both that local votes translate directly into local seats and that total seat distribution matches overall ...
Mathematics
Jul 31, 2026
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What is a p‑value? Expert explains the most misunderstood number in science
If you've ever tried to read a scientific paper, you've almost certainly run into a p-value. And if you found it confusing, you're in good company: Plenty of working scientists misunderstand it too.
Mathematics
Jul 29, 2026
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Research cautions that sometimes working together can actually spur inequality
Encouraging people to contribute to a common good can have a surprising drawback: a risk that rewards become concentrated among a smaller group, putting the rest at a disadvantage. Put more simply, "equality and cooperation ...
Mathematics
Jul 27, 2026
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A new 'golden age' of mathematics may be dawning, thanks to AI and human ingenuity
In May 2026, OpenAI released a new math result that sent shock waves throughout the world of mathematical research. A major unsolved problem called the "unit distance conjecture" had just been resolved by generative AI.
Mathematics
Jul 23, 2026
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Fields medal awarded to four young mathematicians
The world of mathematics handed out its most prestigious awards Thursday at a unique moment for the field, as it faces pressure from AI's potential to outpace human calculation.
Mathematics
Jul 23, 2026
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Why a tiny social media post has mathematicians rethinking AI
As millions of people were coming down from the excitement of the FIFA World Cup final at the start of this week, a different kind of excitement was building within the mathematical community. Levent Alpöge, a mathematician ...
Mathematics
Jul 22, 2026
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Gig platforms can simply 'wait out' workers to slash wages, research reveals
Researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems (MPI-IS), the Tübingen AI Center and Ellis Institute Tübingen have conducted a study that uncovers a mathematical strategy explaining how digital labor platforms ...
Mathematics
Jul 21, 2026
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Study could help event organizers prevent crowd crushes and stampedes
McGill researchers have found that dangerous crowd conditions leading to surges and stampedes may not emerge suddenly but instead develop gradually, as repeated physical contact and pushing accumulate and become synchronized ...
Mathematics
Jul 20, 2026
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AI may not make us stupid, but relying on it could weaken the skills built through practice
The worry of becoming stupid isn't new; it dates back to the time of the Greek philosopher Socrates, who insisted that writing would destroy memory and weaken the mind. Then came calculators, GPS and computers, all of which ...
Statistical method broadens forecasts by modeling uncertainty beyond average outcomes
When it comes to statistics, we usually expect to be informed about what happens "on average." But sometimes the key information lies in deviations from that mean: how likely is heavy rain, and how likely is it to remain ...
Mathematics
Jul 16, 2026
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Statistical test helps judge the value of personalization
From precision medicine to personalized job training, customizing interventions for individuals is often assumed to produce better outcomes than a one-size-fits-all approach. But personalization also comes with costs: it ...
Mathematics
Jul 14, 2026
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Researchers develop AI tool that finds the equations behind complex systems
Clarkson University researchers have developed an artificial intelligence tool that can uncover the mathematical equations governing complex and chaotic systems directly from data. The technology, called KANDy—short for Kolmogorov-Arnold ...
Mathematics
Jul 7, 2026
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