Archive for the ‘Math’ Category

The History of Mathematics

The History of Mathematics

Mathematics is the Empress of the Sciences. Without her, there would be no physics, nor chemistry, nor cosmology. Any field of study depending on statistics, geometry, or any kind of calculation would simply cease to be. And then, there are the practical applications: without maths theres no architecture. No commerce. No accurate maps, or time-keeping: [...]

January 3, 2011 Math 0 Comments

The Joy of Stats: Hans Rosling Makes Statistics Fun

The Joy of Stats: Hans Rosling Makes Statistics Fun

Hans Rosling says there’s nothing boring about stats, and then goes on to prove it. Only with statistics can we make sense of the world and harness the data deluge to serve us rather than drown in its confusion.
Rosling is a man who revels in the glorious nerdiness of statistics, and here he entertainingly [...]

December 30, 2010 Math 0 Comments

To Infinity and Beyond

To Infinity and Beyond

By our third year, most of us will have learned to count. Once we know how, it seems as if there would be nothing to stop us counting forever. But, while infinity might seem like a perfectly innocent idea, keep counting and you enter a paradoxical world where nothing is as it seems.
Mathematicians have discovered [...]

May 27, 2010 Math 0 Comments

Dangerous Knowledge

Dangerous Knowledge

This documentary looks at four brilliant mathematicians – Georg Cantor, Ludwig Boltzmann, Kurt Gödel and Alan Turing – whose genius has profoundly affected us, but which tragically drove them insane and eventually led to them all committing suicide.
Dangerous Knowledge tackles some of the profound questions about the true nature of reality that mathematical thinkers are [...]

April 26, 2010 Math 0 Comments

Mathematical Infinity and Human Destiny

Mathematical Infinity and Human Destiny

There are two approaches to mathematical infinity. It can be seen as defining limiting cases that can never be realized or as existing in some philosophical sense. These mathematical approaches parallel approaches to meaning and value that I call absolutist and evolutionary. The absolutist sees ultimate meaning as something that exists most commonly in the [...]

April 18, 2010 Math 0 Comments