{"id":1518,"date":"2023-02-10T15:58:59","date_gmt":"2023-02-10T20:58:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mathvoices.ams.org\/mathmedia\/?p=1518"},"modified":"2023-02-11T12:58:32","modified_gmt":"2023-02-11T17:58:32","slug":"math-digests-january-2023","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mathvoices.ams.org\/mathmedia\/math-digests-january-2023\/","title":{"rendered":"Math Digests January 2023"},"content":{"rendered":"<ul>\n<li><a href=\"#1\">A New Puzzle Turns Earth Into a Rubik\u2019s Cube, but More Complex<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#2\">Jumping beans&#8217; random strategy always leads to shade \u2014 eventually<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#3\">&#8216;Warm, kind, intellectually brilliant&#8217;: Mathematician Martin Davis dies at 94<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#4\">Can you really drive around India in an EV? Notes from an IIT engineer\u2019s 8,000-km journey<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#5\">Can You Make a Speedy Delivery?<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<h3><a id=\"1\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2023\/01\/01\/science\/puzzles-math-segerman.html\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">A New Puzzle Turns Earth Into a Rubik\u2019s Cube, but More Complex<\/span><\/a><\/h3>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The New York Times<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">,\u00a0 January 1, 2023.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The British-American mathematician and artist Henry Segerman can\u2019t visualize shapes or scenes with his eyes closed. Yet this \u201caphantasia\u201d seems to motivate him to bring math out of imagination and into his hands: as puzzles and tools. Last year, Segerman debuted a new puzzle called Continental Drift. It\u2019s a sort of spherical blend between a Rubik\u2019s Cube and a <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Sliding_puzzle\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">sliding puzzle<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">. The puzzle represents Earth, and its surface is split into 12 pentagons and 20 hexagons like a soccer ball. To beat the game, players must slide the hexagonal tiles until they have recreated the correct map of the globe. It\u2019s a complex game \u2014 Segerman has calculated that there are $7 \\times 10^{31}$ possible arrangements of the tiles. (A Rubik\u2019s Cube has one-trillionth as many.) This article by Siobhan Roberts describes Continental Drift as well as Segerman\u2019s other mathematical creations from 2022.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Classroom Activities: <\/b><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">holonomy, math puzzles<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">(All levels) Watch the videos of Segerman\u2019s various puzzles and inventions. Which is the most interesting to you and why?<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">(Mid level) As Roberts writes, the mathematical trick that complicates this game is called holonomy. If you slide the unique hexagonal tiles (and the vacant space) to loop around a pentagon between them, each tile will arrive slightly rotated. You must keep looping 5 more times to recreate the starting arrangement.\u00a0<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Suppose you are moving 7 unique <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">octagonal tiles<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> and an empty space clockwise around the perimeter of an octagonal tile. How many moves would it take to return to the start configuration? (Hint: watch <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=0uQx33KFMO0\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Segerman\u2019s video that explains this holonomy math<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">.)<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">(High level) Segerman studies topology, the study of geometry that ignores lengths or angles. Watch this video explaining a classic <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=9NlqYr6-TpA\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">topology joke<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">: \u201cA topologist is somebody who can\u2019t tell the difference between a coffee mug and a donut.\u201d That\u2019s because a coffee mug has one hole (the hole created by its handle) and so does a donut.<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">If a donut is \u201cthe same\u201d as a coffee mug, which of the following pairs of shapes would also be considered the same:<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Needle and Macaroni<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Pretzel and College-ruled Paper<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Gold brick and Bowtie tied in a knot<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: right\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u2014Max Levy<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h3><a id=\"2\" href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencenews.org\/article\/jumping-beans-strategy-shade-moth\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Jumping beans&#8217; random strategy always leads to shade \u2014 eventually<\/span><\/a><\/h3>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Science News<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, January 5, 2022.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Though jumping beans are really nothing but seed pods, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/thekidshouldseethis.com\/post\/why-does-the-mexican-jumping-bean-jump\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">they house moth larvae<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> who prefer a cool, shady spot. When it gets hot, the larva inside starts to move, and the jumping bean jumps along with it. A new study <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/journals.aps.org\/pre\/abstract\/10.1103\/PhysRevE.107.014609\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">analyzes<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> the motion of jumping beans, concluding that \u2014 unable to see where it\u2019s going \u2014 the jumping bean follows what\u2019s called a random walk. As James Riordon reports for <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Science News<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, this means that if it keeps jumping around indefinitely, the jumping bean is sure to find a spot of shade.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Classroom Activities: <\/b><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">probability, random walk<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">(Mid level) The jumping bean \u201cwalks\u201d around on a two-dimensional surface, but you can also define a one-dimensional random walk: At each step, you choose randomly to go either one foot left or one foot right. Each option has probability \u00bd.<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">What is the probability of taking 2 steps left, then one step right?<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">What is the probability of taking 2 steps left and one step right, in any order?<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">What is the probability that after 10 steps, you\u2019re less than 9 feet away from the starting point?<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">How do your answers to the first three questions change if the probability of going left is \u2153, and the probability of going right is \u2154?<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">(High level) As Riordon explains for the jumping bean, if you follow the one-dimensional random walk forever, you\u2019ll explore the whole number line. For instance, you\u2019ll eventually be 1000 feet to the right of the starting point. Does this surprise you? Why or why not?<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">(All levels) For a more in-depth lesson on random walks, try Ralph Pantozzi\u2019s <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/mathillustrated.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/32-PantozziKaplun-Take-a-Walk-on-the-Random-Side-Lesson-Plan.pdf\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">award-winning lesson plan<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">. In this 2-day lesson, students spend the first day collecting data on the random walk by participating in a \u201cflip trip\u201d. On the second day, students will examine the probability model in more detail.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: right\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u2014Leila Sloman<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h3><a id=\"3\" href=\"https:\/\/dailycal.org\/2023\/01\/08\/warm-kind-intellectually-brilliant-mathematician-martin-davis-dies-at-94\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">&#8216;Warm, kind, intellectually brilliant&#8217;: Mathematician Martin Davis dies at 94<\/span><\/a><\/h3>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Daily Californian,<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> January 8, 2023.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Martin Davis, who made important contributions to mathematics and computer science, died on January 1, 2023. Davis became one of the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ams.org\/notices\/200805\/tx080500560p.pdf\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">earliest computer programmers<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> after receiving a mathematics Ph.D. from Princeton University in 1950. As Ani Tutunjyan writes in an obituary in <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Daily Californian<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, Davis is famous for his work on <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/math.uchicago.edu\/~shmuel\/lg-readings\/martin%20davis,%20hilbert%2010.pdf\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Hilbert\u2019s tenth problem<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, one of 23 <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/encyclopediaofmath.org\/index.php?title=Hilbert_problems\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">unsolved problems<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> mathematician David Hilbert posed in 1900. Hilbert\u2019s tenth problem is to find an algorithm that can take any polynomial equation with integer coefficients, such as $x^2 + 3y^3 \u2013 4 = 0$, and determine whether or not that polynomial has any integer solutions. The algorithm should be able to give a yes or no answer for any polynomial after a finite number of steps. Thanks to the work of Davis and other mathematicians, it is now known that Hilbert\u2019s tenth problem is unsolvable: it is impossible to find an algorithm that checks for the existence of integer solutions.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Classroom Activities<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">: <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">integers, algebra, polynomials, algorithms<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">(Algebra) The integers are the positive and negative whole numbers, along with zero. They include $\\ldots, -3, -2, -1, 0, 1, 2, 3, \\ldots$, but not fractions like $\\frac{1}{2}$ or irrational numbers like $\\pi$.\u00a0<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Find an integer solution for $x^2 &#8211; 4 = 0$. In other words, find an integer $a$ with the property that $a^2 &#8211; 4 = 0$.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Find integers $a$ and $b$ with the property that $a + 4b &#8211; 17 = 0$. Discuss your answer with another student. Did you find the same solution, or two different ones? Can you find another solution?<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">(High level) Explain why $2x &#8211; 1 = 0$ does not have an integer solution.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">(High level) Explain why $x^4 + y^2 + 5 = 0$ does not have an integer solution. (Hint: If $a$ and $b$ are integers, can $a^4 + b^2$ be a negative number?)<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">(All levels) An algorithm is a list of steps that starts with some kind of input and produces a result after a finite number of steps. The quadratic formula is a kind of algorithm: it is a process for taking any quadratic equation $ax^2 + bx + c = 0$ and finding its solutions.<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Read the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Diophantine_equation#Examples\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">examples<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> of polynomials with integer coefficients listed on the Wikipedia page for Diophantine equations. Do you find it surprising that there is no algorithm that can always check whether or not a polynomial has integer solutions, as Davis and other mathematicians have shown? Why or why not?<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Watch the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.khanacademy.org\/computing\/computer-science\/algorithms\/intro-to-algorithms\/v\/what-are-algorithms\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">introduction to algorithms<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> video on Khan Academy, then try the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.khanacademy.org\/computing\/computer-science\/algorithms\/intro-to-algorithms\/a\/a-guessing-game\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">guessing game<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">. Try to answer the question after the longer guessing game: Why should you never need more than 9 guesses?<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: right\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u2014Tamar Lichter Blanks<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h3><a id=\"4\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cntraveller.in\/story\/ev-buying-india-tips-dc-charging-stations-range-jaipur-durgapur-kharagpur-bengaluru\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Can you really drive around India in an EV? Notes from an IIT engineer\u2019s 8,000-km journey<\/span><\/a><\/h3>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Conde Nast Traveler<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, January 3, 2023.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Electric vehicles are popular among drivers who want to reduce their carbon footprint. But the thought of embarking on a long journey can be intimidating due to concerns about battery range. In an article for <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Conde Nast Traveler,<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> an EV owner describes journeying through India in an electric car to test the feasibility of using an EV for long-distance travel. The trip covered approximately 8,849 kilometers over 70 days, and included 35 city stops. Sushil Reddy, the author who is also an engineer, describes what factors drivers must consider to extend their range. \u201cLower speeds will generally give a higher range due to the lesser air drag and rolling resistance,\u201d Reddy writes. The feasibility of an EV is also a financial math problem. Within the article, Reddy describes his analysis of cost savings.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Classroom Activities: <\/b><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">algebra, efficiency<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">(Mid level) Suppose you are going on a 1,100 mile road trip in an electric car from Los Angeles to Seattle. Your car has a range of 300 miles, but must not let the range drop below 15% of the maximum.\u00a0<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Assuming you leave Los Angeles with a full charge, what is the fewest number of chargers required to drive to Seattle and back?<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Where should these chargers be (in terms of the number of miles away from Los Angeles)?<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Write an algebraic expression for the remaining range, <\/span><b>y<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, in terms of miles driven, <\/span><b>x<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">(High level) Suppose that heating the car makes the car 10% <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">less efficient<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">. Write a new algebraic expression.\u00a0<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">How much less efficient would the car have to be to require one extra charging station between Los Angeles and Seattle?<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: right\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u2014Max Levy<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h3><a id=\"5\" href=\"https:\/\/fivethirtyeight.com\/features\/can-you-make-a-speedy-delivery\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Can You Make a Speedy Delivery?<\/span><\/a><\/h3>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">FiveThirtyEight<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, January 20, 2023.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Every other week, Zach Wissner-Gross posts two mathematical puzzles as part of <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">FiveThirtyEight<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u2019s series \u201cThe Riddler\u201d. The second puzzle on January 20 (the \u201cRiddler Classic\u201d) combined geometry and randomness into a problem about how a delivery drone compares to a delivery scooter. In the puzzle, the drone can travel in a straight line to its destination \u2014 flying over buildings, cars, and trees \u2014 while the scooter must follow city streets. Wissner-Gross asks how much better the drone does at its deliveries than the scooter, requesting the ratio between the average number of deliveries each performs. (In this puzzle, you only have to worry about the distance from the restaurant to deliveries, not distances between two deliveries.) We\u2019ll use this puzzle as an opportunity to build students\u2019 intuition about probability and expected value.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Classroom Activities: <\/b><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">probability, geometry<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">(Mid level) Imagine you are at the center of a circle whose radius is 1 mile, and someone randomly chooses a point inside the circle. What is the probability that the point will be less than half a mile away from you? Why?<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Is it more likely that the point will be less than 1\/10 of a mile away, or more than 9\/10 of a mile away? Why?<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Imagine you draw a square anywhere inside the circle. The square\u2019s area is $\\pi\/4$. What are the chances that the random point will fall inside the square? Why?<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">How do your answers change if you replace the circle with a square whose sides have length 2?<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">(Mid level) The puzzle is about two expected values: The expected distance the drone travels, and the expected distance the scooter travels. An expected value is an average over all possible (random) outcomes, weighted by their probabilities.<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Imagine playing darts on the diagram below. The smallest circle has radius 1, the middle circle has radius 3, and the large circle has radius 5. Your score is the number labeling the region where your dart lands. What is the expected value of your score? (Assume you\u2019re not very good at darts, and your dart lands randomly anywhere on the diagram.)<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<figure id=\"attachment_1527\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1527\" style=\"width: 1024px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1527 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mathvoices.ams.org\/mathmedia\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2023\/02\/Screen-Shot-2023-02-02-at-3.14.15-PM.png?resize=1024%2C715&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Three concentric circles. The smallest circle is marked with a 3, the area between the smallest and the middle one is marked with a 4, and the outer ring is marked with a 6.\" width=\"1024\" height=\"715\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mathvoices.ams.org\/mathmedia\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2023\/02\/Screen-Shot-2023-02-02-at-3.14.15-PM.png?resize=1024%2C715&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mathvoices.ams.org\/mathmedia\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2023\/02\/Screen-Shot-2023-02-02-at-3.14.15-PM.png?resize=300%2C210&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mathvoices.ams.org\/mathmedia\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2023\/02\/Screen-Shot-2023-02-02-at-3.14.15-PM.png?resize=768%2C536&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mathvoices.ams.org\/mathmedia\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2023\/02\/Screen-Shot-2023-02-02-at-3.14.15-PM.png?resize=465%2C325&amp;ssl=1 465w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mathvoices.ams.org\/mathmedia\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2023\/02\/Screen-Shot-2023-02-02-at-3.14.15-PM.png?resize=695%2C485&amp;ssl=1 695w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mathvoices.ams.org\/mathmedia\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2023\/02\/Screen-Shot-2023-02-02-at-3.14.15-PM.png?w=1280&amp;ssl=1 1280w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-1527\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Scoring diagram for game of darts. Created by Leila Sloman.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Draw a circle with three or four dots randomly placed inside. Measure the distances the drone and the scooter would have to travel to reach the dots from the circle center. Does <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">FiveThirtyEight<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u2019s puzzle answer ($4\/\\pi$) match your measurements? If you know integral calculus, read the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/fivethirtyeight.com\/features\/can-you-defeat-the-tiktok-meme\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">full puzzle solution<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: right\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u2014Leila Sloman<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Some more of this month\u2019s math headlines:<\/span><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Vp570S6Plt8&amp;ab_channel=WIRED\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Mathematician Explains Infinity in 5 Levels of Difficulty<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"><br \/>\n<\/span><\/a><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Wired<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, January 30, 2023.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/d41586-023-00223-w\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Charting a course to make maths truly universal<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"><br \/>\n<\/span><\/a><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Nature Careers<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, January 30, 2023.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thetimes.co.uk\/article\/only-a-geometry-master-can-stop-irresistible-bukayo-saka-x0bmv5h3f\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Only a geometry master can stop irresistible Bukayo Saka<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"><br \/>\n<\/span><\/a><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Times<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, January 26, 2023.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/science\/2023\/jan\/23\/can-you-solve-it-prisoners-and-boxes\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Can you solve it? Prisoners and boxes<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"><br \/>\n<\/span><\/a><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Guardian<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, January 23, 2023.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2023\/01\/17\/science\/cosmology-universe-programming.html\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Are We Living in a Computer Simulation, and Can We Hack It?<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"><br \/>\n<\/span><\/a><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The New York Times<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, January 17, 2023.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/d41586-023-00087-0\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">How mathematics stopped being defined by reality \u2014 and started to invent new ones<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"><br \/>\n<\/span><\/a><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Nature<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, January 16, 2023.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><a href=\"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/535983\/the-mystery-and-power-of-the-non-archimedean-world\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Mystery And Power Of The \u201cNon-Archimedean\u201d World<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"><br \/>\n<\/span><\/a><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Science Blog<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, January 15, 2023.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsfltv.com\/news\/national\/random-is-random-a-mathematician-on-the-lottery-betting-and-why-its-best-to-just-have-a-little-fun\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">&#8216;Random is random&#8217;: A mathematician&#8217;s view on lotteries, betting and why it&#8217;s best to just have a little fun<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"><br \/>\n<\/span><\/a><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">WSFL-TV<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">,<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400\">January 11, 2023.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><a href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/curious-kids-what-are-gravitational-waves-190830\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Curious Kids: what are gravitational waves?<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"><br \/>\n<\/span><\/a><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Conversation<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, January 11, 2023.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><a href=\"http:\/\/newscientist.com\/article\/2353761-why-maths-our-best-tool-to-describe-the-universe-may-be-fallible\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Why maths, our best tool to describe the universe, may be fallible<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"><br \/>\n<\/span><\/a><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">New Scientist<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, January 10, 2023.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/a-crucial-particle-physics-computer-program-risks-obsolescence\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">A Crucial Particle Physics Computer Program Risks Obsolescence<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"><br \/>\n<\/span><\/a><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Wired, <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">January 1, 2023.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><a href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/exploring-the-mathematical-universe-connections-contradictions-and-kale-196053\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Exploring the mathematical universe \u2013 connections, contradictions, and kale<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"><br \/>\n<\/span><\/a><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Conversation<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">,<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400\">January 1, 2023.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A New Puzzle Turns Earth Into a Rubik\u2019s Cube, but More Complex Jumping beans&#8217; random strategy always leads to shade \u2014 eventually &#8216;Warm, kind, intellectually brilliant&#8217;: Mathematician Martin Davis dies at 94 Can you really drive around India in an EV? Notes from an IIT engineer\u2019s 8,000-km journey Can You<span class=\"more-link\"><a href=\"https:\/\/mathvoices.ams.org\/mathmedia\/math-digests-january-2023\/\">Read More &rarr;<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[6,7,185,35,182,149,183,69,73,184],"class_list":["entry","author-leilasloman","post-1518","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-math-in-the-media-digests","tag-algebra","tag-algorithms","tag-efficiency","tag-geometry","tag-holonomy","tag-integers","tag-math-puzzles","tag-polynomials","tag-probability","tag-random-walk"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mathvoices.ams.org\/mathmedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1518","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mathvoices.ams.org\/mathmedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mathvoices.ams.org\/mathmedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mathvoices.ams.org\/mathmedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mathvoices.ams.org\/mathmedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1518"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/mathvoices.ams.org\/mathmedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1518\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1529,"href":"https:\/\/mathvoices.ams.org\/mathmedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1518\/revisions\/1529"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mathvoices.ams.org\/mathmedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1518"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mathvoices.ams.org\/mathmedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1518"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mathvoices.ams.org\/mathmedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1518"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}