Mathematics

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Mathematics is the science and study of quantity, structure, space, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns, formulate new conjectures, and establish truth by rigorous deduction from appropriately chosen axioms and definitions.

There is debate over whether mathematical objects such as numbers and points really exist or whether they are manmade. The mathematician Benjamin Peirce called mathematics "the science that draws necessary conclusions". Albert Einstein, on the other hand, stated that "as far as the laws of mathematics refer to reality, they are not certain; and as far as they are certain, they do not refer to reality."

Through the use of abstraction and logical reasoning, mathematics evolved from counting, calculation, measurement, and the systematic study of the shapes and motions of physical objects. Practical mathematics has been a human activity for as far back as written records go (see: History of Mathematics). Rigorous arguments first appeared in Greek mathematics, most notably in Euclid's Elements. Mathematics continued to develop, in fitful bursts, until the Renaissance, when mathematical innovations interacted with new scientific discoveries, leading to an acceleration in research that continues to the present day.

Today, mathematics is used throughout the world as an essential tool in many fields, including natural science, engineering, medicine, and the social sciences. Applied mathematics, the branch of mathematics concerned with application of mathematical knowledge to other fields, inspires and makes use of new mathematical discoveries and sometimes leads to the development of entirely new disciplines. Mathematicians also engage in pure mathematics, or mathematics for its own sake, without having any application in mind, although practical applications for what began as pure mathematics are often discovered later.

For more information about Mathematics, read the full article at Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.


News tagged with math

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'One keypad per child' lets schoolchildren share screen to learn math

'One keypad per child' lets schoolchildren share screen to learn math (w/ Video)

Electronics / Consumer & Gadgets

created Dec 10, 2009 | popularity 2 / 5 (3) | comments 3

The slogan is "one laptop per child." But it will be a long time before that is true everywhere in the world. Meanwhile, a new device aims to make a situation that is common in poor areas - one computer shared ...


Adding technology to geometry class improves opportunities to learn

Adding technology to geometry class improves opportunities to learn

Other Sciences / Social Sciences

created Dec 15, 2009 | popularity 4 / 5 (2) | comments 0

A new study co-written by a University of Illinois expert in math education suggests that incorporating technology in high school-level geometry classes not only makes the teaching of concepts such as congruency ...


Math goes viral: Researchers make math and science real for high-school students

Other Sciences / Social Sciences

created Dec 14, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

At least a dozen Alberta high-school calculus classrooms were exposed to the West Nile virus recently.





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NASA, Google offer more precise emissions tracking (AP)

NASA, Google offer more precise emissions tracking

Space & Earth / Environment

created Dec 17, 2009 | popularity 1 / 5 (1) | comments 0

(AP) -- The question is a potential deal-killer: If nations ever agree to slash greenhouse gas emissions, how will the world know if they live up to their pledges?


Our devices will spin denser webs of data in 2010s (AP)

Our devices will spin denser webs of data in 2010s

Electronics / Consumer & Gadgets

created Dec 15, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (5) | comments 0

(AP) -- Ten years ago, we would have been blown away by a cell phone with far more computing power and memory than the average PC had in 1999, along with a built-in camera and programs to manage every aspect ...


Their infinite wisdom

Their infinite wisdom

Other Sciences / Mathematics

created Dec 14, 2009 | popularity 4.2 / 5 (13) | comments 1

(PhysOrg.com) -- Hotel guests come and go. But in the first decade of the 1900s, a pair of frequent Russian visitors to the Hotel Parisiana, near the Sorbonne on Paris' Left Bank, stood out vividly. The children ...


NASA Launches Web Site for Teenagers That Want More Class

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Dec 14, 2009 | popularity 4 / 5 (3) | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- NASA has launched a new Web site created specifically for teenagers that provides teens access to current NASA spacecraft data for use in school science projects, allows them to conduct real experiments with ...


Science not faked, but not pretty (AP)

Science not faked, but not pretty

Space & Earth / Environment

created Dec 12, 2009 | popularity 3 / 5 (57) | comments 93

(AP) -- E-mails stolen from climate scientists show they stonewalled skeptics and discussed hiding data - but the messages don't support claims that the science of global warming was faked, according to an ...


Old math reveals new thinking in children's cognitive development

Biology / Other

created Dec 11, 2009 | popularity 4.2 / 5 (6) | comments 0

Five-year-olds can reason about the world from multiple perspectives simultaneously, according to a new theory by researchers in Japan and Australia. Using an established branch of mathematics called Category Theory, the ...


Students Hone Engineering Skills in Robotics

Students Hone Engineering Skills in Robotics

Other Sciences / Other

created Dec 09, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- Robots have fascinated future engineers for generations. Recently, a group of young students had an opportunity to design and build their own robots using LEGOs, the popular plastic pieces ...


Creativity in mathematics

Other Sciences / Mathematics

created Dec 08, 2009 | popularity 3.5 / 5 (2) | comments 0

"Mathematics links Art and Science in one great enterprise, the human attempt to make sense of the universe." So writes Abel Prizewinner and Fields Medalist Sir Michael F. Atiyah in the January 2010 Notices of the American Ma ...


Nanoimaging in 3-D

Nanoimaging in 3-D

Physics / General Physics

created Dec 01, 2009 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (14) | comments 0 feature

(PhysOrg.com) -- As technology shrinks ever smaller, interest in objects and devices on the nanoscale becomes more apparent. However, visualizing these objects in three dimensions comes with special challenges. ...


Gift Guide: Adventures in the video game aisle (AP)

Gift Guide: Adventures in the video game aisle

Technology / Software

created Nov 30, 2009 | popularity 3 / 5 (2) | comments 0

(AP) -- The video game aisle can be intimidating for aspiring Santas who haven't touched a joystick since "Pong." But it has something for everyone: riveting solo adventures, online multiplayer battles and ...



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