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Opinions expressed on these pages were the views of the writers and did not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of the American Mathematical Society.
Author Archives: annahaensch
A conversation with The Accidental Mathematician
Izabella Laba is a fantastic blogger. She is also a professor at the University of British Columbia. She is widely published in harmonic analysis, geoemtric measure theory and additive combinatorics. And most recently, she is one of the founding editors … Continue reading
Algebra: It’s More Than Just Parabolas
Our old pal Andrew Hacker is back at it again. With the publication of his new book and a spate of recent media appearances, he is a man on a mission. A professor emeritus in the Department of Political Science … Continue reading
Posted in K-12 Mathematics, Math Education
Tagged algebra, Andrew Hacker, Ben Orlin, Keith Devlin, Simon Jenkins
2 Comments
Opening The Cryptographic Backdoor
Unless you’ve been living off the grid somewhere in an igloo build out of old discarded iPhones, you’ve probably heard about the recent standoff between Apple and the US government. The short story, is that the US Government has demanded … Continue reading
Posted in Data Science, Mathematics and Computing, Number Theory
Tagged Apple, cryptography, iPhone
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Counting Aloud And Other Saucy Things
The best reaction I ever had to telling someone I was a number theorist was “wow, so what’s the highest you’ve ever counted?” Being a number theorist, you can well imagine my response, first lots of laughter, and then “in … Continue reading
Posted in Recreational Mathematics
Tagged math videos, Michael Stevens, Youtube, Zipf's Law
1 Comment
There’s a New Prime! And It Looks Like…Wait…What?
A new prime has been discovered. It’s really long. Over 22 million digits. And the number has just been sitting on a computer in the middle of Missouri unnoticed since September. But that’s not the crazy thing about it. The … Continue reading
Today’s Post Is Brought To You By The Letter P
There is this joke that people like to make. It’s something about how real mathematicians don’t use numbers. It’s a little bit funny, and a lot true. As a number theorist, I, more so than anybody, should be using numbers, … Continue reading
The Best and Worst of Math in 2015
The year is coming to an end, that means it’s time for me to put on me best sequined dancing pants, pop open a bottle of champagne and reflect on some of the highs and lows of the last 12 … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
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Stuff Math Professors Say
It’s December, the semester is winding down, we all need a break from deep thinking about hard math. So this week I have some extra special brain candy I’ve been saving up for you, in the form of a Tumblr, … Continue reading
And For The Mathematician Who Has Everything
I don’t mean to sound ungrateful, but as a mathematician, I’ve been on the receiving end of one too many well-intentioned protractor cases and Π-themed pie plates. And I’ll concede, if you are anything like me, it is likely a … Continue reading
Posted in Mathematics and the Arts, Recreational Mathematics, Uncategorized
Tagged Fibonacci Clock, geometry daily, Math Art, Michael Rubinstein, Tilman Zitzmann
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Meanwhile Over In Computer Science
An algorithm has just been proposed for solving the graph isomorphism problem in quasipolynomial time, dealing a serious blow to hard problems all over the world. But let me first explain what all of those words mean. Graphs, you’ll recall, … Continue reading
Posted in Events, Mathematics and Computing
Tagged complexity theory, Gabriel Gaster, graph theory, Jeremy Kun, Laszlo Babai, Luca Trevisan, P vs NP, Scott Aaronson
2 Comments