2+ mon, 1+ week ago  (734+ words) A machine learning algorithm created maps of the mouse brain with 1, 300 subregions by predicting how brain cell types tend to group together, like buildings in a neighborhood. Irena Gajic for'Quanta Magazine Real estate agents will tell you that a home's…...

7+ mon, 2+ week ago  (650+ words) The Fourier transform breaks a function down into wavelike building blocks. It took mathematicians until the 19th century to master this same calculation. "It's hard to overestimate the influence of Fourier analysis in math," said Leslie Greengard of New York University…...

1+ week, 1+ day ago  (878+ words) Zara Picken for'Quanta Magazine "I'll just say that example strikes me as terrifying," co-host Jonathan Lemire said. It does sound terrifying. When Harari told the same story on The Daily Show, the audience gasped. But the thing about that story…...

5+ day, 11+ hour ago  (1762+ words) While no single new result is a world-beating breakthrough, some of them are on par with discoveries published in professional mathematical journals. In some cases, algorithms formulate a conjecture, prove it, and verify the proof with minimal human intervention. In…...

3+ week, 3+ day ago  (1697+ words) This formalization effort engendered trust. But it did far more than that. The push to formalize has helped mathematicians uncover novel connections between different areas of math. It has taken the field in unexpected new directions. It has taught us,…...

3+ week, 3+ day ago  (934+ words) David E. Dunning explores how choices of notation " such as using Roman or Hindu-Arabic numerals " changes what you can do with math. It's natural to think of math as being fundamentally abstract. Whether it's invented or discovered, its truths are so…...

1+ mon, 2+ day ago  (992+ words) The central limit theorem is what makes bell-shaped distributions so ubiquitous. Irene Pe'rez for'Quanta Magazine No matter where you look, a bell curve is close by. Place a measuring cup in your backyard every time it rains and note the…...

1+ mon, 2+ week ago  (1423+ words) Celsius Pictor for Quanta Magazine Baez called for the development of new mathematics " he called it "green" math " to better capture the workings of Earth's biosphere and climate. For his part, he sought to apply category theory, a highly abstract…...

1+ mon, 3+ week ago  (257+ words) The series, led by Math Editor Jordana Cepelewicz, consists of four chapters, each published monthly. The first chapter, "Original Sin," tells the story of new evidence of a shocking betrayal at the dawn of modern math. In "The Man Who…...

1+ mon, 3+ week ago  (1798+ words) When Demian Goos followed Karin Richter into her office on March 12 of last year, the first thing he noticed was the bust. It sat atop a tall pedestal in the corner of the room, depicting a bald, elderly gentleman with…...