33-year-old mathematician Wang Hong from the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences (CIMS-NYU) has proved the century-old Kakeya conjecture in three dimensions with collaborator Joshua Zahl!

The problem is rooted in the question: what's the smallest area that an infinitely thin needle can sweep out if it has to be turned to point in every possible direction?

News:
[1] https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3300958/chinese-maths-star-wang-hong-solves-infamous-geometry-problem
[2] https://english.jagran.com/world/chinese-student-wang-hong-cracked-an-impossible-geometry-puzzle-that-stumped-mathematicians-for-over-a-century-10221886

2023 piece from Quanta Magazine on their earlier progress on the problem:
https://www.quantamagazine.org/new-proof-threads-the-needle-on-a-sticky-geometry-problem-20230711/

@tao
#WangHong #CIMS #NYU #JoshuaZahl #Kakeya #KakeyaConjecture #ThreeDimensions #Needle #Geometry #QuantaMagazine #Conjecture #AdvancingMaths #Maths #Mathematics #CenturyOld #Tao #TerenceTao

Looking for salmon in the river and hoping for an easy catch.

Equivalence for humans: too lazy to get out of the sofa to grab a snack in the fridge.

#BearsOfMastodon #bears #wildlife #photography #nature #WildlifePhotography #VancouverIslandWildlife #VancouverIsland #BritishColumbia #Canada #cims

Spot the bear!

Fog is one the charm of living on Vancouver Island. The trick is to spot bears in the fog. On that particular day, I was outnumbered as I was the only human amongst many bears.

#BearOfMastodon #bears #wildlife #nature #photography #WildlifePhotography #VancouverIslandWildlife #VancouverIsland #BritishColumbia #Canada #cims