Action needed to continue receiving Math in the Media Math in the Media has moved to a new platform! In order to continue receiving each month’s posts via email, you must visit the new website to confirm your subscription: Go to https://www.ams.org/mathmedia/ Under the heading “Subscribe to Math in the Media via email,” enter your…
How Math Solved the Case of the Volcanic Bombs That Didn’t Explode The New York Times, September 11, 2021 You probably don’t want to get up close to an erupting volcano to study the magma “bombs” that it shoots out. Luckily, the power of mathematics allowed researchers to discover why some volcanic bombs fall to…
New mathematical record: what’s the point of calculating pi? The Guardian, August 17, 2021 Pi is something more than just a number. Pi has infinitely many digits after its decimal point and no observable pattern. It’s a classic example of so-called “transcendental numbers,” which can’t be calculated from any combination of ratios, powers, and roots…
Is This Some Kind of Code? You Can Solve the … The New York Times, June 25, 2021 What would a font based on Tetris look like? What about a Sudoku font, or a juggling font? Erik and Martin Demaine, a computer scientist and an artist, have designed a multitude of “algorithmic puzzle fonts,” mathematically…