Category Archives: Mathematics in the news

Computing Digits of $\pi$

Posted on August 20, 2021 by Edward Dunne

Researchers at the Fachhochschule Graubünden in Switzerland have announced the latest record for the number of digits of $\pi$ that have been computed. They have computed roughly 62.8 trillion digits using a supercomputer.

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Cicadas in MathSciNet

Posted on June 25, 2021 by Edward Dunne

The cicadas of Brood X have emerged throughout much of the eastern United States.  In certain areas of Ann Arbor, Michigan, where Mathematical Reviews is  physically located, they have become quite loud.   They belong to the genus Magicicada of periodical … Continue reading →

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Mathematics and epidemiology

Posted on March 15, 2020 by Edward Dunne

Mathematics is a useful tool in studying the growth of infections in a population, such as what occurs in epidemics.  A simple model is given by a first-order differential equation, the logistic equation, $\frac{dx}{dy}=\beta x(1-x)$ which is discussed in almost any … Continue reading →

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3

Posted on September 18, 2019 by Edward Dunne

After posting about Booker and Sutherland’s cool expression of 42 as a sum of three cubes, Drew Sutherland wrote to say that they found a new way to write 3 as a sum of three cubes: $569936821221962380720^3 + (-569936821113563493509)^3 +  … Continue reading →

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42

Posted on September 11, 2019 by Edward Dunne

The number 42 is famous for its occurrence in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. In 2032, Adele might come out with a new album with 42 as its title.  But today, the fame of the number 42 has to … Continue reading →

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Karen Uhlenbeck wins the 2019 Abel Prize

Posted on March 25, 2019 by Edward Dunne

Karen Uhlenbeck is being awarded the 2019 Abel Prize.  It is a remarkable award for a remarkable mathematician.  Uhlenbeck did fundamental work in a quickly developing area of mathematics at an early stage of its development.  I was a graduate … Continue reading →

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Quanta Magazine

Posted on March 5, 2017 by Edward Dunne

Quanta Magazine, from the Simons Foundation, has been publishing some excellent articles about mathematics.  It is not a research journal, so Mathematical Reviews doesn’t cover it.  Nevertheless, if you want to dig deeper into some of the mathematical issues discussed … Continue reading →

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AMS Prizes and Awards – 2017

Posted on December 4, 2016 by Edward Dunne

The AMS is announcing the winners of some of the major prizes that they will award at the upcoming Joint Mathematical Meetings in Atlanta (January 4-7, 2017).  The Joint Prize Session, where prizes from the various participating societies will be presented, … Continue reading →

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Mathematics for Democracy

Posted on December 6, 2015 by Edward Dunne

There is mathematics in the New York Times today (December 6, 2015).  Not research-level mathematics, but math nonetheless.  Specifically, there is an article about using two simple statistical tests as indicators of gerrymandered voting districts.  By themselves, the tests don’t … Continue reading →

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