Posts filed under: Current Events
Current Events
In this age of digital plentitude, media content often cannot be comprehended at its fullest, as news headlines and social media platforms constantly inundate us with a plethora of statistics and information. Without delving deeper into the mechanics behind a particular study – such as by whom, when, and where the survey or experiment was conducted – there is not much we can do besides accepting the facts as they are presented. Our goal is to abridge this leap of faith by verifying and telling these stories in our own words, through the lenses of the youth.
Misusing Mathematical Terms: How Bad is it Really?
You’ve probably heard the words exponential growth many times in math class, whether to describe the population trends of the past few decades or to calculate present and future values of bank savings. While these depictions are based on accurate mathematical models, in the real world people tend to use... Read More
Topology in Data Analysis
“We’re facing a wave of data; the amount of data is so big that a lot of information is never looked at by anybody,” said a group of researchers, including Vaclav Snasel, Jana Nowakova, Fatos Xhafa, and Leonard Barolli. As modern technology progresses, we can expect to see an increase... Read More
Gender Gap In Competition Math
It is unanimously recognized that a gender gap exists in many aspects of society in the United States. However, a little less obvious of a fact is that this gender gap has a prevalent role in the world of mathematics. A common argument says that girls are inherently less smart... Read More
Is Drug Testing Truly Random?
There are many things in life that seem unpredictable and completely up to chance. Yet not all such phenomena are truly unsystematic. Which leads to the following question: how can we use data and statistics to arrive at a conclusion about the randomness of an event? Each year, all NFL... Read More
Record Number of Pi Digits
But a time I spent wandering in bloomy night; Yon tower, tinkling chimewise, loftily opportune. Out, up, and together came sudden to Sunday rite, The one solemnly off to correct plenilune. What you just read, was a Pilish poem by Joseph Shipley, in which the number of letters in each... Read More
Sir Michael Atiyah: Bridging the World of Mathematics and Quantum Physics
Michael Atiyah, arguably the most important mathematician of the 20th century, united mathematics and physics during the 1960s in a way not seen since the days of Isaac Newton. Born in London, Atiyah’s mathematical career was sparked by an instructor who introduced him to projective geometry and William Rowan Hamilton’s... Read More
How Mad Is March Madness?
March Madness is one of the most exciting and unpredictable sporting events in the world. The tournament is famous for wild upsets and crazy moments. This past year over 70 million brackets were completed and after just two rounds (48 games), there was only 1 bracket that had correctly predicted... Read More
On the Largest Known Prime
A prime number is any number greater than 1 whose divisors are only one and itself. In 300 bc, Euclid proved that there is an infinite number of primes in a book he authored, titled Elements. The search for large primes has continued ever since. Towards the end of last... Read More