Hello Polymaths:

This video by Margaret Wertheim is about female handicraft (i.e. crotchet) and its applications to marine biology and advanced mathematics. Covering such broad topics in only 18 minutes inherently limits the depth:

- geometric complexity of coral
- geometry of crotchet
- history of hyperbolic geometry
- generation of life thru collective collaboration

I viewed this presentation as "hand-waving" to some degree. She does not teach hyperbolic geometry in this video. I would think you already need to know what it is to understand this material.

In contrast the collaboration and modeling aspects are fascinating.

The video is called The Mathematics of Coral.

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modeling organized human conflict (otherwise known as war)

Hello Polymaths:

This short TED video is about statistical modelling of a couple of the artifacts of an organized conflict. I have been working on an analysis of this type with other data (i.e. stock prices and weather).

Sean Gourley on the mathematics of war
http://www.ted.com/talks/sean_gourley_on_the_mathematics_of_war.html

It turns out that Mathematica has APIs to enable such analyses.

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the author of a new book about Grace Hopper

Hello Polymaths:

 

She is called the mother of the computer revolution (way before Hewlett & Packard).  I have been familiar with her for a long time. She was supposed to have famously said "it is easier to apologize than to ask for permission". This is one of my stock phrases (and approaches).

 

Sometimes I watch the Press Here show about technology. I usually catch it when football is coming on Sunday mornings.

 

So I was not completely surprised about the historical stuff they listed. But this interview with this guy is quite in depth because he talks about her:

 

- background
- non-technical skills
- personal demons
- impact on the author

 

Here is some further info on this:

 

- the interview from NBC Bay area (use this link and pick Episode 39 "Mint" Part 3)
- live interview with the author at the Commonwealth Club (in SF) on 28-Jan-2010
- his book is ordered, but not arrived yet at the SF Public Library

 

 

Regards..

 

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Hard Problems: The Road to the World's Toughest Math Problems

Hello Polymaths:

 

This documentary was shown on public television this evening.  They will probably broadcast it again if you keep your eye peeled. I did not know about it until I stumbled upon it.

 

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One type of mathematics for Biotech

Hello Polymaths:

 

There are several companies pushing into a space which can loosely be called "personalized medicine". This entails processing the DNA genetic sequence and using statistics to attempt to give a likelihood for the pre-disposition for certain diseases.

 

One such company is called Navigenics and I was surprised to see that they have an academic paper which shows the mathematics behind their process (which I assume is patented).

 

Theoretically processes of this type can (or may in the future) allow us to make therapeutic medicine which is tailored to an individual based on the DNA.

 

I have not read this yet since statistics is a "slog" for me (compared to abstract algebra :-)! Be aware that in addition to mathematics, this material also has lots of biotech terms like SNPs, odds-ratios, genotypes. As always, Wikipedia is the best choice to get a paragraph or two about unfamiliar technical terms.

 

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factoring large prime numbers

As I am sure many people who follow this list know, the Subject issue is a the juncture of number theory and computer science.

I found the article about this on Slashdot called Factorization of a 768-Bit RSA Modulus.

Also you may be aware that this is related to security, cryptography and its "strength".

Of course all security, including the lock on your front door is not perfect. It is not designed to be either. It is only designed to "hard" to break.

As technology and our knowledge of mathematics increases, what is "hard" has to be pushed out. Even this factorization took many years. But for the guys trying to break into NASA and the Department of Energy, this is not a long time.

As I was reading this I was thinking about how I know about "public key crytography" but my explanation to a layman about what this really is and why this is important is probably not so good.

Slashdot is really great for "bit-heads" and with the posting I found the excellent explanation below.

Regards..
----------------------------------------------
Re:Can someone explain this to me?

by Mini-Geek writes: on Thursday January 07, @12:52PM

What they did was factor a 768-bit number, like one that could be used as a 768-bit RSA public key. e.g. to factor 15, you need to find that it is equal to 3*5, which can be easily done by dividing the first few primes and finding that 3 divides 15. To factor a very large number, like a 768-bit number that is semiprime with the two factors both about the same size, (as is the case with RSA public keys) is a very difficult task. It is currently best done by the General Number Field Sieve (GNFS). For more info on any of these concepts, use Wikipedia.

This demonstrates the possibility of breaking any given 768-bit RSA key by factoring the public modulus, and shows how much work that takes. Note, however, that it is still very difficult, and in this case took multiple years of calendar time and hundreds of years of CPU time to crack.

This does not mean that every 768-bit RSA key can be cracked any more easily than it could before, it just demonstrates that we have the ability to crack any 768-bit RSA key (given the time and resources).

Ask Slashdot: Which Math For Programmers?

This posting is from someone in college (I think) trying to decide between math courses. I always leaned towards the so-called pure math, mainly because I liked it, but now the graph theory stuff seems more practical.

Regards..

---

"It is no news that the greatest computer scientists and programmers are/were mathematicians. As a kid 'hacking' if-else programs, I was not aware of the importance of math in programming, but few years later, when I read Engines of Logic by Martin Davis I started becoming increasingly more convinced of this. Unfortunately, math doesn't return my love, and prefers me to struggle with it. Now, as the end of the semester approaches, I am faced with a dilemma: What math subject to choose next? I have two choices: 'Discreet structures with graph theory' (discrete math; proofs, sets, algorithms and graphs) on one side, and 'Selected math chapters' (math analysis; vectors, euclidean space, differentials) on the other. I'm scared of the second one because it's said to be harder. But contrary to my own opinion, one assistant told me that it would be more useful for a programmer compared to the first subject. Then again, he's not a programmer. That's why I turn to you for help, fellow slashdotters — any advice?"

1100+ free videos on math and other subjects made with a crayon

This is called Khan Academy. I originally found out about this from an article in the SF Chronicle.

Here is a sentence from his vision document

The goal of the Khan Academy (http://www.khanacademy.org or http://youtube.com/khanacademy ) is to use technology to provide a free, world-class education to anyone, anywhere. It is currently a library of 1176 videos on YouTube (and mirrored elsewhere) covering everything from basic arithmetic to advanced calculus, chemistry, economics and biology.

This is interesting on several levels, for example:

• there are several paid offerings on the web for this same material
  
• this is done only with a paint program (i.e. no fancy graphics)
  
• there are also sessions on current economic issues (e.g. Bernanke TARP)
  
• he never shows his face on the videos
  
• some have poor sound..he notes this and apparently never goes back to fix it
  
• there is a charge on YouTube to download the video ($0.99)
  
• supposedly Google pays him some money since he gets so many views
  

Finally, it is interesting that all of this material could just as easily come from (many) books in the public library.

science is interesting?...hmmm

This funny article is definitely from the other side of the coin. Basically this is from the side of math is hard!


This explains how studying science and math are always going to have tough time to compete with American Idol and other activities that students are interested in.

Article: Math, Tech and the Women Who Don’t Love Them

This article by Sally K. Ride is a fascinating blog post. She does vary when she conflates the issue of native-born vs. gender, but it is clear that there are real issues here.

The Math-Meetup group had many salient comments (here) and I have included my views below.

Also I think that the following comments to the blog post are very good. Specifically those talking about

• relative pay levels
• socialization issues in how girls are raised
• math vs. science

Regards..

---

OK...I feel compelled to go out on a limb...

One reason I am interested in this is that I am trying to find a way to "turn the tide" away from American Idol and the latest Jude Law movie. To me this is related to the decline of American (brain-)power in general. I am also more interested in this than I am in specifically increasing the number of

• females
• native born
• minorities

Of course it is more fun (and in some ways "easier") to graivtate towards singing/dancing or sales/marketing and I am *not* convinced math can be made "fun".

I was always "wired" for it so it makes sense and it is beautiful, but it seems "natural" that it is hard for the majority of non-nerds. And to me, nerds will always be a minority. Hey, whad'dya want? It pays my bills!