If you prefer not to do your own epiglottis calculations (maybe you fear you lack the mathematical chops to do that well?), this new study may bring cheer: “Development of a Deep Learning-Based Epiglottis Obstruction Ratio Calculation System,” by Hsing-Hao Su and Chuan-Pin Lu, Sensors, 2023. 4. Maybe you are unsure what and where your […]
Editing can be a slow process. A new study suggests that a famous novel published three centuries ago could and should be edited to correct a calculation error. The study is: “Physiological Essay on Gulliver’s Travels: A Correction After Three Centuries,” Toshio Kuroki, The Journal of Physiological Sciences, epub 2019. (Thanks to Mark Dionne for […]
Yellow traffic lights posed and provided an opportunity for applied mathematicians. Witness this study, published more than a half century ago: “The Problem of the Amber Signal Light in Traffic Flow,” Denos Gazis [pictured here, reportedly thrilling an audience], Robert Herman, and Alexei Maradudint, Operations Research, vol. 8, no. 1, 1960, pp. 112-132. The authors, […]
Rhett Allain, writing in Wired, took a calculating approach to bubble wrap. He introduced it with these thoughts: How much bubble wrap do you need to survive jumping out of the 6th floor of a building? Let me randomly say this is a height of 20 meters. Where would you start with a question like this? […]
Computer access to a stack of photos can be used to boost one’s mental calculating ability, suggests this paper. Do pay attention to the thought in parentheses, at the very end of this quotation: “Multiplying 10-digit numbers using Flickr: The power of recognition memory,” Andrew Drucker [pictured here], 2011. The author, at MIT, explains: In […]
David Ng estimates: A calculation to see how many cups of coffee you would need to drink in order to kill yourself. I thought it might be interesting to do some back of the envelope calculations to bring to you, some information on how many cups of coffee to avoid drinking, so as to not […]
In this first video, Fry and Laurie present a calculated bit of mathematical levity [HT Jennifer Ouellette]: In the following video, Professor Bikash Kumar Dey of the Department of Electrical Engineering, IIT Bombay, presents 58 minutes without levity. It’s his famous “Lecture – 22 Probability of Error Calculation”. Enjoy, if you will: BONUS: “Lecture – 24 […]
Finance puzzles many people. This new study may make finance less puzzling, or more puzzling, or both: “Any Regulation of Risk Increases Risk,” Philip Z. Maymin [pictured here] and Zakhar G. Maymin, arXiv:1004.1670v4, April 20, 2012. The first author identifies himself as Assistant Professor of Finance and Risk Engineering at NYU-Polytechnic Institute in Brooklyn, New York. The second author […]
This year, 2011, is ending—unexpectedly—in December. To celebrate, we pay tribute to the winners of this year’s Ig Nobel Prize in mathematics. The prize was awarded to: Dorothy Martin of the USA (who predicted the world would end in 1954), Pat Robertson of the USA (who predicted the world would end in 1982 [and whose book is pictured […]
While waiting for your coffee to brew or your tea to steep, you might distract yourself by calculating how much water is used to produce all the coffee and tea consumed in the world in a year. Then, if you are feeling in a comparative and provocative mood, you might get in touch with the […]