https://phys.org/science-news/mathematics en-us The latest news on mathematics, math, math science, mathematical science and math technology. Economics and physics are distinct fields of study, yet some researchers have been bridging the two together to tackle complex economics problems in innovative ways. This resulted in the establishment of an interdisciplinary research field, known as econophysics, which specializes in solving problems rooted in economics using physics theories and experimental methods. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-validation-lillo-mike-farmer-large.html Mathematics Economics & Business Thu, 30 Nov 2023 09:56:53 EST news620560608 How do you distribute drinking water fairly across an area recently hit by a natural disaster? Or how can you make sure you have enough bottles of water, granola bars and fruit in your delivery van to refill all the vending machines at a school when you don't know how full they are? https://phys.org/news/2023-11-coping-uncertainty-customer-demand-mathematics.html Mathematics Economics & Business Mon, 27 Nov 2023 13:20:03 EST news620313601 A new Sussex study has revealed that "math anxiety" can lead to disengagement and create significant barriers to learning. According to charity National Numeracy, more than one-third of adults in the U.K. report feeling worried or stressed when faced with math, a condition known as math anxiety. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-math-anxiety-students-disengage.html Mathematics Education Wed, 22 Nov 2023 15:01:03 EST news619887661 Newly published research reexamines the evaluation of scientific findings, proposing a network-based methodology for contextualizing a publication's impact. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-effective-method-impact-scientific.html Mathematics Other Mon, 20 Nov 2023 16:51:20 EST news619721473 What influences the choices we make, and what role does the behavior of others have on these choices? These questions underlie many aspects of human behavior, including the products we buy, fashion trends, and even the breed of pet we choose as our companion. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-master-chess-players-gambits.html Mathematics Social Sciences Thu, 16 Nov 2023 09:49:05 EST news619350541 In a new study published in The Journal of Finance and Data Science, a researcher from the International School of Business at HAN University of Applied Sciences in the Netherlands introduced the topological tail dependence theory—a new methodology for predicting stock market volatility in times of turbulence. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-theory-links-topology.html Mathematics Economics & Business Tue, 14 Nov 2023 17:00:04 EST news619203598 Math experts have developed new ways to provide further evidence for human-caused global heating and predict how close Earth is to reaching dangerous climate tipping points. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-climate-easier-math-breakthrough.html Mathematics Fri, 03 Nov 2023 09:06:04 EDT news618221161 A RUDN University mathematician and a colleague developed a theoretical model of mass extinction. The model for the first time took into account two important factors—the inverse effect of vegetation on climate change and the evolutionary adaptation of species. The results were published in Chaos, Solitons & Fractals. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-mathematician-mass-extinction-climate.html Mathematics Tue, 31 Oct 2023 16:54:51 EDT news617990088 We've all been there: staring at a math test with a problem that seems impossible to solve. What if finding the solution to a problem took almost a century? For mathematicians who dabble in Ramsey theory, this is very much the case. In fact, little progress had been made in solving Ramsey problems since the 1930s. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-math-problem-century.html Mathematics Tue, 31 Oct 2023 14:45:03 EDT news617982301 Students who are more digitally skilled also perform better in math. New research from Renae Loh and others at Radboud University shows that in countries with better availability of information and communication technology (ICT) in schools, math performance benefits greatly. It further suggests that improving the ICT environment in schools can reduce inequality in education between countries. The paper is published in European Educational Research Journal today. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-communication-technology-infrastructure-math-skills.html Mathematics Education Wed, 25 Oct 2023 13:53:45 EDT news617460821 Want to get a slight edge during a coin toss? Check out which side is facing upwards before the coin is flipped –- then call that same side. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-coin-tosses-slight-bias.html Mathematics Sun, 22 Oct 2023 13:10:01 EDT news617025849 Economists from RUDN University have created a methodology based on mathematical modeling to manage production effectively with rapidly emerging innovations. The results were published in Sustainability. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-economists-algorithm-flexible-enterprise-sustainable.html Mathematics Economics & Business Tue, 17 Oct 2023 13:45:02 EDT news616769101 A pair of mathematicians, Kevin Course and Prasanth Nair at the University of Toronto's Institute for Aerospace Studies, has developed a new state-estimation method to create efficient forecasts without the need for the details of an underlying model. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-state-estimation-method-efficient-underlying.html Mathematics Thu, 12 Oct 2023 11:21:57 EDT news616328514 College students learn more calculus in an active learning course in which students solve problems during class than in a traditional lecture-based course. That's according to a peer-reviewed study my colleagues and I published in Science. We also found that college students better understood complex calculus concepts and earned better grades in the active learning course. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-students-calculus-lessons.html Mathematics Education Wed, 11 Oct 2023 14:00:02 EDT news616250773 A large team of researchers affiliated with multiple institutions across Europe, has found evidence backing up work by Persi Diaconis in 2007 in which he suggested tossed coins are more likely to land on the same side they started on, rather than on the reverse. The team conducted experiments designed to test the randomness of coin flipping and posted their results on the arXiv preprint server. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-flipped-coins-fair-thought.html Mathematics Wed, 11 Oct 2023 12:10:01 EDT news616244808 Past research on Chinese mathematics teaching has focused mainly on the role of teacher's beliefs and professional knowledge separately in teaching approaches, or examined three variables—teacher's beliefs, professional knowledge and teaching approaches—in correlational studies. How teaching beliefs and professional knowledge specifically influence teaching approaches remained largely unclear. Also, most studies have focused on pre-service or elementary school teachers in the West. There is a need to know whether these conceptual frameworks can be applied and adapted to the Chinese teaching context at the secondary level. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-secondary-mathematics-teachers-beliefs-knowledge.html Mathematics Education Wed, 04 Oct 2023 13:43:02 EDT news615645781 Researchers Jayne Spiller and Camilla Gilmore at the Center for Mathematical Cognition, University of Loughborough, U.K., have investigated the intersection of sleep and mathematical memory, finding that sleep after learning improves recall. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-mathematical-bedtime-stories-memory.html Mathematics Education Tue, 03 Oct 2023 10:20:02 EDT news615547087 Like fingerprints, a firearm's discarded shell casings have unique markings. This allows forensic experts to compare casings from a crime scene with those from a suspect's gun. Finding and reporting a mismatch can help free the innocent, just as a match can incriminate the guilty. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-forensic-science-method-firearm-identification.html Mathematics Social Sciences Mon, 02 Oct 2023 15:24:09 EDT news615479042 Tens of thousands of handwritten pages by one of the 20th century's greatest mathematicians, Alexander Grothendieck, many of which the eccentric genius penned while living as a hermit, were unveiled in France on Friday. https://phys.org/news/2023-09-hermit-eccentric-french-math-genius.html Mathematics Fri, 29 Sep 2023 12:54:05 EDT news615210840 Understanding how children learn to count can have profound impacts on the kinds of instructional materials used in the classroom. And the way those materials are designed can shape the strategies children use to learn, according to a new paper led by Concordia researchers. https://phys.org/news/2023-09-tens-sophistication-young-children-concepts.html Mathematics Education Wed, 27 Sep 2023 17:32:02 EDT news615054721 Patterns of chemical interactions are thought to create patterns in nature such as stripes and spots. A new study shows that the mathematical basis of these patterns also governs how sperm tail moves. https://phys.org/news/2023-09-sperm-patterns-believed-dictate-zebra.html Mathematics Wed, 27 Sep 2023 05:00:01 EDT news614966476 It seems there's a five-letter word describing what many players of the wildly popular Wordle puzzle do daily as they struggle to find a target word within six tries. https://phys.org/news/2023-09-wordle-users-mathematics-expert.html Mathematics Social Sciences Mon, 25 Sep 2023 15:40:01 EDT news614874725 New research has used machine learning to find the properties of atomic pieces of geometry, in pioneering work that could drive the development of new results in mathematics. https://phys.org/news/2023-09-machine-unravels-mysteries-atomic-geometry.html Mathematics Mon, 25 Sep 2023 12:21:58 EDT news614863315 Have you ever tried to do a brainteaser in which you have to connect the dots to make the outline of a house in one continuous stroke without going back over your lines? Or perhaps you've clicked on Facebook's friend recommendations or played Settlers of Catan. https://phys.org/news/2023-09-dots-mathematicians-hot-problem.html Mathematics Mon, 18 Sep 2023 13:57:08 EDT news614264224 A major new study has revealed that American teenagers are more likely than any other nationality to brag about their math ability. https://phys.org/news/2023-09-teenagers-exaggerate-math-abilities.html Mathematics Education Thu, 14 Sep 2023 19:00:01 EDT news613915822 Richard Schwartz, a mathematician at Brown University has found a solution to the problem of how small a Möbius band can be made without intersecting itself—at least for a smooth piece of paper. The paper is published on the arXiv preprint server. https://phys.org/news/2023-09-mathematician-mbius-band-aspect-ratio.html Mathematics Wed, 13 Sep 2023 09:22:08 EDT news613815720 For much of her teaching career, Carrie Stark relied on math games to engage her students, assuming they would pick up concepts like multiplication by seeing them in action. The kids had fun, but the lessons never stuck. https://phys.org/news/2023-09-science-swept-reforms-classrooms-nationwide.html Mathematics Education Tue, 12 Sep 2023 04:14:54 EDT news613710887 Today it would seem odd to describe a flower with the word "bastard"—why apply a term of personal abuse to a flower? But in Shakespeare's time, "bastard" was a technical term describing certain plants. https://phys.org/news/2023-09-linguists-shakespeare-words.html Mathematics Social Sciences Thu, 07 Sep 2023 13:47:04 EDT news613313221 Getting in sync can be exhilarating when you're dancing in rhythm with other people or clapping along in an audience. Fireflies too know the joy of synchronization, timing their flashes together to create a larger display to attract mates. https://phys.org/news/2023-09-fireflies-brain-cells-dancers-synchronization.html Mathematics Thu, 07 Sep 2023 10:48:08 EDT news613302482 Knots are used in all sorts of ways, every day. They ensure safety both indoors and for outdoor activities such as boating or sailing, are used as surgical sutures, as decorations, and they can even be found at nanoscales in nature, for example in DNA molecules. https://phys.org/news/2023-09-team-thousands.html Mathematics Tue, 05 Sep 2023 15:02:03 EDT news613144916