Ig Nobel Prize winner Mahadevan (2007 Ig Nobel physics prize, for studying how sheets become wrinkled) and colleagues have taken an applied-mathematical look at yet another unanswered question. As happens so often with Mahadevan and his merry, varying band of collaborators, a better-than-anyone-had-before answer appeared. Details are in this study: “The dynamics of sperm cooperation in a competitive […]
Tag: math
Mathematigal: “A math major talks about fear”
Mathematigal, AKA Saramoira Shields, who majored in math and does many things, talks to the camera about people fearing to major in math: [vimeo]77416313[/vimeo] (HT Aatish Bhatia)
The Fanciful Number 2.9013, Plus or Minus Nothing
Ig Nobel Prize (psychology, 2012) winner Rolf Zwaan writes, in his blog, about the vaunted — yet uncertain — value of a particular number: The Fanciful Number 2.9013, Plus or Minus Nothing Can we capture any aspect of human psychology in a single number? In 1956 a paper entitled The Magical Number Seven Plus or Minus Two saw the light. […]
A mathematical model of ‘Gone with the Wind’
Mathematicians (of any competent sort) are like writers: they believe that they can describe almost anything. This study is an exercise in write about using math to describe a love story: “A mathematical model of ‘Gone with the Wind’“, Sergio Rinaldi [pictured here], Fabio Della Rossa, Pietro Landi, Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, […]