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Mathematics news
Student serves up fresh solutions to the pancake problem
David Cutler is in the spotlight for his work on a tasty-sounding mathematics problem. In January, the New York Times featured a research paper authored by Cutler and Neil Sloane, the founder of The On-line Encyclopedia of ...
Mathematics
11 hours ago
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How long does it take to get last liquid drops from kitchen containers? These physicists know the answer
At some point, most people have found themselves holding a tilted carton of milk or bottle of cooking oil, patiently waiting for the last drops to drip out. Now, physicists at Brown University have done the math to show just ...
Mathematics
Mar 8, 2026
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Putting sports stats to the test: Unpredictable play helps pick a winner in soccer
A comprehensive game plan and strategic tactics are critical to winning soccer, but how much does a team's unpredictability in moving the soccer ball around the pitch matter? In a new article published in PLOS One, an international ...
Mathematics
Feb 27, 2026
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Probability underlies much of the modern world—an engineering professor explains how it actually works
Probability underpins AI, cryptography and statistics. However, as the philosopher Bertrand Russell said, "Probability is the most important concept in modern science, especially as nobody has the slightest notion what it ...
Mathematics
Feb 23, 2026
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How choices made by crowds in a train station are guided by strangers
In crowds, most people are strangers to you, and everyone else for that matter. However, until now, the effect of stranger-to-stranger interactions on the choices people make in crowds has not been properly examined. Ziqi ...
Mathematics
Feb 20, 2026
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Why some tunes stick: Mathematical symmetry helps explain catchy melodies
Why do some melodies feel instantly right, balanced, memorable and satisfying, even if you have never heard them before? New research from the University of Waterloo suggests that more than creativity is at play.
Mathematics
Feb 19, 2026
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From life events to travel trends, DEMOS tool brings demographic realism to transportation modeling
Many personal transportation-related decisions—such as vehicle purchases—are influenced by life events, like the birth of a child or a change in employment. Modeling tools that reflect how life trajectories evolve over ...
Mathematics
Feb 18, 2026
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From power grids to epidemics: Study shows how small patterns trigger systemic failures
Why do some systems collapse suddenly after what seems like a minor disturbance? A single transmission line failure can cascade into widespread blackouts. A delayed shipment can ripple through a global supply chain, emptying ...
Mathematics
Feb 18, 2026
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AI system TongGeometry generates and solves olympiad-level geometry problems
The International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO) is a prestigious competition featuring talented high school students from around the world, in which competitors solve complicated mathematical problems. Geometry problems from ...
From cells to companies: Study shows how diversity scales within complex systems
A mystery novel, a history book, and a fantasy epic may have little in common in plot or style. But count the words inside them and a strange regularity appears: many new words show up early, then fewer and fewer as the author ...
Mathematics
Feb 17, 2026
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Passing got faster and more accurate in top soccer leagues, study finds
The amount and accuracy of passing in the game of soccer—called football across much of the world—has climbed in recent years, according to new research. The average passing volume, pass accuracy, and the percentage of ...
Mathematics
Feb 10, 2026
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When you do the math, humans still rule
Artificial intelligence has attained an impressive series of feats—solving problems from the International Math Olympiad, conducting encyclopedic surveys of academic literature, and even finding solutions to some longstanding ...
Mathematics
Feb 9, 2026
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Exploring why some children struggle to learn math
Hyesang Chang and colleagues, from Stanford University, explored why some children struggle to learn math compared to their peers in a new JNeurosci paper. Children selected which numbers were bigger than others across different ...
Mathematics
Feb 9, 2026
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Why elite chess ratings get stuck: A new model treats draws as data
Here's a statistical challenge worthy of a grandmaster: How do you create an accurate ranking system when the best players usually don't win? This is the conundrum of elite chess. The stronger the players, the greater the ...
Mathematics
Feb 9, 2026
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Leading AI models struggle to solve original math problems
Mathematics, like many other scientific endeavors, is increasingly using artificial intelligence. Of course, math is the backbone of AI, but mathematicians are also turning to these tools for tasks like literature searches ...
A 'crazy' dice proof leads to a new understanding of a fundamental law of physics
Right now, molecules in the air are moving around you in chaotic and unpredictable ways. To make sense of such systems, physicists use a law known as the Boltzmann distribution, which, rather than describe exactly where each ...
Mathematics
Feb 5, 2026
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A digital game improves the mathematical performance of children with dyscalculia
Dyscalculia, characterized by deficits in number sense and calculation skills, affects approximately 5%–7% of the population and often persists into adulthood. A team from the University of Barcelona and the University ...
Mathematics
Feb 4, 2026
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AI systems could identify math anxiety from student inputs and change feedback
Math anxiety is a significant challenge for students worldwide. While personalized support is widely recognized as the most effective way to address it, many teachers struggle to deliver this level of support at scale within ...
Mathematics
Feb 3, 2026
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Beyond the eye of the beholder: Mathematically defining attributes essential to color perception
Research on the perception of color differences is helping resolve a century-old understanding of color developed by Erwin Schrödinger. Los Alamos scientist Roxana Bujack led a team that used geometry to mathematically define ...
Mathematics
Jan 30, 2026
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Q&A: Even small amounts of online math practice can improve skills
An analysis of data from 200,000 students using a computer-assisted math program supports an optimistic view of skill-focused, mastery-based learning, even with limited use.
Mathematics
Jan 26, 2026
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AI math genius delivers 100% accurate results
Scientists control 'free-flowing' electric currents with light
Telomere breaks provide new insights into chaotic chromosome mutations
