mathematics 13

A question from Dorai get me thinking: does being good at maths help in programming? I don’t have a personal view. But since Reportbee has data on the Class 12 examination results for the last three years, we thought we could do a bit of analysis. Here’s the correlation of the scores of various subjects with Computer Science. Correlation Subject 0.79 CHEMISTRY 0.79 PHYSICS 0.75 ENGLISH 0.75 MATHEMATICS 0.72 LANGUAGE 0.67 BIOLOGY 0.66 ECONOMICS 0.66 COMMERCE 0.65 ACCOUNTANCY 0.56 HISTORY 0.52 GEOGRAPHY It almost breaks neatly into four groups. ...

I’ve seen many proofs that 1=2. Here’s a classic. The (not-so-subtle) error in the above proof is that we’re cancelling (a-b) on both sides, when (a-b) equals zero. That is, we’re dividing by zero on both sides. That completely invalidates the equality. Another proof uses the fact that the square root of a number can be both positive or negative. ...

Mathematics, marriage and finding somewhere to eat has a simple solution to all these problems. Whether you’re hiring someone, or picking a partner, or finding a house – or any problem that requires you to pick the best among N choices – here’s the rule. Scan the first 37% of choices. Then pick the first one that’s better than anything you’ve seen so far.

The Mathematical Structure of Terrorism. The frequency distribution of terrorist attacks – be it in Iraq, Columbia, Afghanistan or anywhere in the world – is the same. The frequency distribution of the size of terrorist groups is the same as well.

It’s a good time to be a mathematician.

Every number is special. Here’s what’s special about the first 10,000 numbers (almost). For instance, “8281 is the only 4-digit square whose two 2-digit pairs are consecutive.” And “5851 is the only prime so that it, its square, and its cube all have the same sum of digits.”

Math comics. Including some Calvin & Hobbes.

The Poincare conjecture may have been solved. via Joseph

Another interesting piece related to complexity: a speech on the paradox of randomness by Gregory Chaitin. via missing matter

Encyclopaedia of integer sequences. Funny, it couldn’t find “1,2,3,4,5,6…” though.

Mathworld is back.

In 1900, David Hilbert outlined 23 unsolved problems in mathematics. Many of these have been solved today, with the notable exception of the Riemann Hypothesis. Today, if we solve any of these, we get $1 million.

Pickover’s site is always a pleasure to visit. His puzzles are great, but you really go there for a blend of art, computers, mathematics and science.