Gerrymandering is more sophisticated than it once was. Mathematicians are pioneering new ways to determine electoral fairness — and their work is ending up in court. https://www.quantamagazine.org/how-math-has-changed-the-shape-of-gerrymandering-20230601/
Quanta Magazine
- 3.9K Followers
- 49 Following
- 146 Posts
Big ideas in science and math. Because you want to know more. Launched by the Simons Foundation. Winner of the 2022 Pulitzer Prize in Explanatory Reporting. http://quantamagazine.org
With computer muscle and clever simplification, a grad student and his adviser recently solved a packing coloring problem that has kept mathematicians busy for two decades.
https://www.quantamagazine.org/the-number-15-describes-the-secret-limit-of-an-infinite-grid-20230420/
https://www.quantamagazine.org/the-number-15-describes-the-secret-limit-of-an-infinite-grid-20230420/
The Number 15 Describes the Secret Limit of an Infinite Grid | Quanta Magazine
The “packing coloring” problem asks how many numbers are needed to fill an infinite grid so that identical numbers never get too close to one another. A new computer-assisted proof finds a surprisingly straightforward answer.
In 1977, Luis Caffarelli proved singularities exist in the mathematics of melting ice.
“As a society, we can’t afford to give up on privacy — just like we can’t afford to give up on free speech.” Watch an interview with Princeton computer scientist Arvind Narayanan on our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKkzVII_wHQ
The Computer Scientist Taking on Big Tech: Privacy, Lies and AI
Researchers have laid a geometric foundation for a high-dimensional shape of minimal surface area. The finding advances decades of fruitful dialogue between geometry and theoretical computer science. Jordana Cepelewicz reports: https://www.quantamagazine.org/mathematicians-complete-quest-to-build-spherical-cubes-20230210/
A new season of The Joy of Why, a Quanta podcast hosted by Steven Strogatz, premieres February 23. Guests include Katie Mack, Anil Seth and Eugenia Cheng. Listen to the new trailer and learn more: https://www.quantamagazine.org/the-joy-of-asking-about-infinity-jellyfish-and-the-end-of-the-universe-20230209/
Subscribe here: https://listen.quantamagazine.org/Joy2-trailer-s
Subscribe here: https://listen.quantamagazine.org/Joy2-trailer-s
How fast is the universe expanding? And why is that expansion accelerating? Efforts to understand these questions rely critically on one particular type of supernova.
https://www.quantamagazine.org/what-lights-the-universes-standard-candles-20230208/
Artificial intelligence researchers have built a new class of “liquid” neural networks that process inputs in a nonlinear way. In certain scenarios, these networks handily outperform conventional neural networks. Steve Nadis reports:
The most effective prediction formula in physics also embodies a strange philosophy about how the world really is. But it makes mathematicians queasy. In a new explainer, Charlie Wood peels back the path integral: https://www.quantamagazine.org/how-our-reality-may-be-a-sum-of-all-possible-realities-20230206/
Mathematicians have waited over 60 years for a counterexample to a central conjecture about knots. They’re going to have to keep waiting. Leila Sloman reports: https://www.quantamagazine.org/mathematicians-prove-this-knot-cannot-solve-major-problem-20230202
