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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.
Category Archives: Current Events
Best and Worst of 2017
As this year comes careening to a screeching halt, it’s time once again for that annual tradition of the best and worst of the year…in math. And what a year it’s been! Where to begin? Let’s start with the good … Continue reading
Posted in Current Events
Tagged ABC conjecture, bitcoin, blockchain, Capital Currents, Karen Saxe, Maryam Mirzakhani, mochizuki, Navier Stokes Equations, neural networks, nsf, Vladimir Voevodsky, WannaCry
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News in Numbers and Nurturing Numeracy
My attention span is a little short right now. There’s always the news, of course, but the lack of daylight around the end of the year gives me a weird combination of restlessness and lethargy. That’s why one of my … Continue reading
Posted in Current Events
Tagged Fawn Nguyen, fivethirtyeight
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The Blockchain Party
Maybe you think bitcoin is silly, maybe you think it’s dangerous and socially irresponsible, maybe you’re a bitcoin millionaire (in which case, hi), or maybe you are desperate to join the blockchain party. Whatever your stance, it seems that you … Continue reading
Just In Time For The Holidays
Well, I’ve done you a favor and shielded you from these juicy mathematical and political morsels until after Thanksgiving. A recent NPR/PBSNewshour/Marist poll showed that 58% of people were not looking forward to discussing politics at their holiday table, while … Continue reading
Posted in Current Events
Tagged Cathy O'Neil, Election, Election Forecasting, fivethirtyeight, Nate Silver, politics
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Hacking Cracking & Packing
Sometimes the boundaries of voting districts can look really suspicious. If you’ve ever seen Illinois’ 4th Congressional District, you know what I mean. Sometimes there are good reasons for this; communities with common interests may want to vote together. But … Continue reading
Posted in Current Events
Tagged gerrymandering, Gill v. Whitford, Jordan Ellenberg, moon duchin, Olivia Watch, Supreme Court
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With Profound Sadness
It was an incredible day in 2014 when Maryam Mirzakhani became the first woman to win the Fields Medal. I remember feeling absolutely overwhelmed with emotion and thinking to myself, alright, beginning today winning the Fields Medal is officially something … Continue reading
Posted in Current Events
Tagged Erica Klarreich, in memoriam, john baez, Maryam Mirzakhani, mathsbyagirl, obituary, RAGE of the blackboard, Terrence Tao
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Math In The Capital
A few weeks ago I had occasion to visit the capital — and the Capitol — and as is the custom in Washington D.C., I had coffee with interesting people. We’ve blogged quite a bit here about the expressionless face … Continue reading
Posted in Current Events
Tagged Capital Currents, Catherine Paolucci, Congressional Fellowship, Karen Saxe, Policy, politics
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Black Hat, White Hat
Meanwhile, over in computer science…several days ago WannaCry almost brought the world to its knees until an anonymous tech blogger, MalwareTech, brought it to a screeching halt by activating a hiding-in-plain-sight kill-switch. MalwareTech blogged about the wild 12 hour epic … Continue reading
Posted in Current Events, Mathematics and Computing
Tagged computer science, cryptography, cybersecurity, hacker, malware, WannaCry
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