Category: Mathematics
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Changing geometry. Blurry lines…
Atomic interactions in everyday solids and liquids are so complex that some of these materials’ properties continue to elude physicists’ understanding. Solving the problems mathematically is beyond the capabilities of modern computers, so scientists at Princeton University have turned to an unusual branch of geometry instead. Researchers led by Andrew Houck, a professor of electrical […]
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Solving problems. To see there are none…
In a future characterized by algorithms with ever increasing computational power, it becomes essential to understand the difference between human and machine intelligence. This will enable the development of hybrid-intelligence interfaces that optimally exploit the best of both worlds. By making complex research challenges available for contribution by the general public, citizen science does exactly […]
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Gödel’s incompleteness theorem: The non-Cretan way out…
Gödel’s incompleteness theorem is well known for proving that the dream of most mathematicians to formulate foundations for a complete and self-consistent theory of mathematics is a futile exercise. Gödel proved that any set of axioms you could posit as a possible foundation for math will inevitably be incomplete; there will always be true facts […]
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Measuring the cosmos… Ghosts and numbers…
A groundbreaking experiment in physics has for the first time provided a precise measurement of a force between electrons and protons called the weak nuclear force. The value 0.0719 (give or take 0.0045) won’t mean much to most of us, but the way they did it makes way for some exciting possibilities for pushing physics […]
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Counting till the end… Numbers… Infinite… Water and fire…
Gisin, of the University of Geneva, debates the physical reality of real numbers. His main problem lies with real numbers that consist of a never-ending string of digits with no discernable pattern and that can’t be calculated by a computer. Such numbers (like π for example) contain an infinite amount of information: You could imagine […]
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