http://www.physorg.com/science-news/mathematics/ en-us PhysOrg.com provides the latest news on mathematics, math, math science, mathematical science and math technology. A mathematical model has explained some of the remarkable features of mosquito hearing. In particular, the male can hear the faintest beats of the female's wings and yet is not deafened by loud noises. http://www.physorg.com/news177918117.html Other Sciences - Mathematics Fri, 20 Nov 2009 05:42:41 EST news177918117 Everyone knows the flip of a coin is a 50-50 proposition. Only it's not. You can beat the odds. So says a three-person team of Stanford and UC-Santa Cruz researchers. They produced a provocative study that turns conventional wisdom, well, on its head for anyone who has ever settled a minor dispute with a simple coin toss. http://www.physorg.com/news175267656.html Other Sciences - Mathematics Tue, 20 Oct 2009 14:28:13 EST news175267656 (PhysOrg.com) -- A physicist at the University of Manchester has paved the way for better research into how honey bees choose where to live. http://www.physorg.com/news174669784.html Other Sciences - Mathematics Tue, 13 Oct 2009 16:24:03 EST news174669784 (PhysOrg.com) -- The first century BC in Italy was culturally a brilliant age, unequaled by any other period in Roman history. It was a time of Cicero, Caesar, Vergil, Horace and many other major literary figures of the Antiquity. http://www.physorg.com/news173975496.html Other Sciences - Mathematics Mon, 05 Oct 2009 15:33:43 EST news173975496 (PhysOrg.com) -- A recent study, published in the October edition of the Journal of Applied Statistics, looked at soccer as being an experiment to determine which of two teams is superior, but their analysis found a high statistical probability that the best team might not win. http://www.physorg.com/news173596887.html Other Sciences - Mathematics Thu, 01 Oct 2009 07:30:01 EST news173596887 You're not as different from Albert Einstein and Charles Darwin after all, at least when it comes to patterns of correspondence. http://www.physorg.com/news173112935.html Other Sciences - Mathematics Fri, 25 Sep 2009 15:56:25 EST news173112935 (PhysOrg.com) -- Physicists have theorized for decades about how neural networks might be able to accomplish the incredibly complex calculations the human brain performs all the time. But simply stabilizing such a powerful organic computer made up of 100 billion neurons and trillions of interconnections is no small matter. A new model proposes that the brain could use about half of its connections just to maintain a delicate balance of excitation and inhibition. And keep from going haywire. http://www.physorg.com/news173033272.html Other Sciences - Mathematics Thu, 24 Sep 2009 17:48:27 EST news173033272 Mathematicians from North America, Europe, Australia, and South America have resolved the first one trillion cases of an ancient mathematics problem. The advance was made possible by a clever technique for multiplying large numbers. The numbers involved are so enormous that if their digits were written out by hand they would stretch to the moon and back. The biggest challenge was that these numbers could not even fit into the main memory of the available computers, so the researchers had to make extensive use of the computers' hard drives. http://www.physorg.com/news172819291.html Other Sciences - Mathematics Tue, 22 Sep 2009 06:22:23 EST news172819291 (PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists expect a new mathematical model of chronic wound healing could replace intuition with clear guidance on how to test treatment strategies in tackling a major public-health problem. http://www.physorg.com/news172766940.html Other Sciences - Mathematics Mon, 21 Sep 2009 15:49:22 EST news172766940 A researcher from the University of Bath has found a new approach to an old geometric problem of modelling the most efficient way of packing shapes to form a foam. http://www.physorg.com/news171114233.html Other Sciences - Mathematics Wed, 02 Sep 2009 12:46:07 EST news171114233 (PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers from Australia have taken a step toward resolving a seemingly simple yet unsolved paradox known as the "two-envelope" problem. They`ve worked out a new strategy that can enable a player to beat the game in terms of increasing their payoff. The strategy could have applications in optimizing gains in investments and other areas. http://www.physorg.com/news169811689.html Other Sciences - Mathematics Tue, 18 Aug 2009 10:56:04 EST news169811689 (PhysOrg.com) -- Finding the best way to pack the greatest quantity of a specifically shaped object into a confined space may sound simple, yet it consistently has led to deep mathematical concepts and practical applications, such as improved computer security codes. http://www.physorg.com/news169301990.html Other Sciences - Mathematics Wed, 12 Aug 2009 13:20:49 EST news169301990 (PhysOrg.com) -- Here's a question. How many gumballs of different sizes can fit in one of those containers at the mall so as to reward a well-spent quarter? It's hard to believe that most people never consider it even when guessing the number of candies in a bowl at Halloween. http://www.physorg.com/news168534811.html Other Sciences - Mathematics Mon, 03 Aug 2009 16:14:18 EST news168534811 As mathematics continues to become an increasingly important component in undergraduate biology programs, a more comprehensive understanding of the use of algebraic models is needed by the next generation of biologists to facilitate new advances in the life sciences, according to researchers at Sweet Briar College and the Virginia Bioinformatics Institute (VBI) at Virginia Tech. http://www.physorg.com/news168183447.html Other Sciences - Mathematics Thu, 30 Jul 2009 15:10:05 EST news168183447 Much as meteorologists predict the path and intensity of hurricanes, Indiana University's Alessandro Vespignani believes we will one day predict with unprecedented foresight, specificity and scale such things as the economic and social effects of billions of new Internet users in China and India, or the exact location and number of airline flights to cancel around the world in order to halt the spread of a pandemic. http://www.physorg.com/news167579576.html Other Sciences - Mathematics Thu, 23 Jul 2009 15:40:04 EST news167579576 You don't need a crystal ball to tell you what is going to happen next in the economy. You need a statistical model. A new method from North Carolina State University can help researchers determine which economic variables they should focus on by identifying whether a variable can be predicted. http://www.physorg.com/news167381380.html Other Sciences - Mathematics Tue, 21 Jul 2009 07:50:17 EST news167381380 As swine flu spreads across America, good data can make all the difference in controlling it. http://www.physorg.com/news166276586.html Other Sciences - Mathematics Wed, 08 Jul 2009 13:01:28 EST news166276586 Tumors are complex collections of cells whose behavior has proven difficult to understand, let alone predict. As a result, oncologists are often surprised by how a particular patient responds to a given course of therapy. http://www.physorg.com/news165776270.html Other Sciences - Mathematics Thu, 02 Jul 2009 19:00:01 EST news165776270 (PhysOrg.com) -- An IBM Researcher has solved a thorny mathematical problem that has confounded scientists since the invention of public-key encryption several decades ago. The breakthrough, called "privacy homomorphism," or "fully homomorphic encryption," makes possible the deep and unlimited analysis of encrypted information -- data that has been intentionally scrambled -- without sacrificing confidentiality. http://www.physorg.com/news165164190.html Other Sciences - Mathematics Thu, 25 Jun 2009 15:57:02 EST news165164190 (PhysOrg.com) -- Mathematicians in Manchester are hoping electric fish can give them clues to solving a fiendishly complex mathematical problem - which could in turn lead to better treatment for patients with lung problems. http://www.physorg.com/news164634027.html Other Sciences - Mathematics Fri, 19 Jun 2009 12:41:13 EST news164634027 A problem at the interface of two mathematical areas, topology and algebraic geometry, that was formulated by Friedrich Hirzebruch, had resisted all attempts at a solution for more than 50 years. The problem concerns the relationship between different mathematical structures. Professor Dieter Kotschick, a mathematician at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität (LMU) in Munich, has now achieved a breakthrough. As reported in the online edition of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS), Kotschick has solved Hirzebruch's problem. http://www.physorg.com/news163858041.html Other Sciences - Mathematics Wed, 10 Jun 2009 13:07:37 EST news163858041 (PhysOrg.com) -- Countless hours are lost in traffic jams every year. Most frustrating of all are those jams with no apparent cause - no accident, no stalled vehicle, no lanes closed for construction. http://www.physorg.com/news163778747.html Other Sciences - Mathematics Tue, 09 Jun 2009 15:06:15 EST news163778747 How did we get here and where are we headed? These are some of life's biggest questions. To get the answers, one Kansas State University professor is doing the math. http://www.physorg.com/news163768550.html Other Sciences - Mathematics Tue, 09 Jun 2009 12:16:52 EST news163768550 (PhysOrg.com) -- An academic from Queen Mary, University of London has launched a series of videos featuring magic tricks that are conjured from a mathematical perspective. http://www.physorg.com/news163261772.html Other Sciences - Mathematics Wed, 03 Jun 2009 15:30:15 EST news163261772 Jack Brimberg and Bill Hurley of The Royal Military College of Canada, Kingston, Ontario, point out that sports commentators will often argue the importance of scoring the first goal and often suggest that a team improves its chances of winning considerably by scoring it. This kind of punditry more commonly arises during playoff games which tend to be played more defensively. http://www.physorg.com/news163159671.html Other Sciences - Mathematics Tue, 02 Jun 2009 11:08:21 EST news163159671 (PhysOrg.com) -- Prime numbers have intrigued curious thinkers for centuries. On one hand, prime numbers seem to be randomly distributed among the natural numbers with no other law than that of chance. But on the other hand, the global distribution of primes reveals a remarkably smooth regularity. This combination of randomness and regularity has motivated researchers to search for patterns in the distribution of primes that may eventually shed light on their ultimate nature. http://www.physorg.com/news160994102.html Other Sciences - Mathematics Fri, 08 May 2009 09:35:38 EST news160994102 In 1994, University of Utah mathematician Ken Golden went to the Eastern Weddell Sea for the Antarctic Zone Flux Experiment. The sea's surface is normally covered with sea ice, the complex composite material that results when sea water is frozen. During a powerful winter storm, Golden observed liquid sea water welling up and flooding the sea ice surface, producing a slushy mixture of sea water and snow that freezes into snow-ice. With his mathematician's eyes he observed this phenomenon and said to himself: "That's percolation!" http://www.physorg.com/news158835461.html Other Sciences - Mathematics Mon, 13 Apr 2009 09:58:16 EST news158835461 (PhysOrg.com) -- Mathematicians at the University of St Andrews have made a discovery which could lead to a better understanding of why huge eruptions occur in space. http://www.physorg.com/news158340027.html Other Sciences - Mathematics Tue, 07 Apr 2009 16:21:02 EST news158340027 There's a reason Wall Street resembles a rocket experiment gone wrong: rocket scientists helped make it happen. http://www.physorg.com/news158302297.html Other Sciences - Mathematics Tue, 07 Apr 2009 05:52:05 EST news158302297 The New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox, Cleveland Indians and Los Angeles Angels should make the playoffs in the American League (AL) in 2009 with most other teams lagging well behind. The National League (NL) should see another very tight race in the Eastern Division as has occurred in recent years. http://www.physorg.com/news157899629.html Other Sciences - Mathematics Thu, 02 Apr 2009 14:01:08 EST news157899629