Mathematics Articles

Hitting streaks spread success

By Stephen Ornes / January 11, 2013
These baseball all-stars played in 1937. Fourth from the left is Joe DiMaggio, who went on a 56-game hitting streak in 1941. That record has not been broken. Credit: Harris & Ewing

A baseball player’s hitting streak may boost teammates’ batting averages

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Cool Jobs: Math as entertainment

By Dana Mackenzie / December 19, 2012
When a band of zoo buddies tears through a Monte Carlo casino, the marble columns don’t have a chance. Nafees Bin Zafar used mathematics to power the visual effects behind this madcap scene in Madagascar 3. Credit: “Madagascar 3” © 2012 DreamWorks Animation LLC, used with permission of DreamWorks Animation LLC

Magic, movies and metal: How mathematics adds dazzle to the visual world

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Math for hungry birds

By Stephen Ornes / May 19, 2012
Scientists have found that when albatrosses forage for food, their flight path looks like a mathematical pattern called a fractal. Credit: Coedekoven/SWFSC/NOAA

Seabird traces patterns while searching for food

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Teaching Math, teaching anxiety

By Stephen Ornes / February 10, 2010
Teaching Math, teaching anxiety. Credit Shutterstock

Teachers’ math worries could affect students’ performance

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Shuffling shenanigans

By Julie Rehmeyer / September 30, 2009
cards

A magician-turned-mathematician figures out how many times to shuffle a deck of cards before playing Old Maid

Posted in Mathematics

Calculating crime

By Stephen Ornes / January 28, 2009
Credit tillsonburg/iStockphoto

New math tools could help cops find robbers

Posted in Mathematics

Math and our number sense

By Susan Gaidos / September 22, 2008

Not all math skills are learned in the classroom. Some of them come naturally.

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Play for Science

By Julie Rehmeyer / September 24, 2007

Computer scientists are developing programs to win popular games. In the process, they are developing solutions for other, more serious, puzzles.

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Math Naturals

By Emily Sohn / June 1, 2007

Kindergartners can solve relatively complex addition and subtraction problems if allowed to use their intuitive grasp of approximate quantities.

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How to Slice a Cake Fairly

By Julie Rehmeyer / December 14, 2006

Mathematicians work out a fairer way for two people to share cake.

Posted in Mathematics