“Mathematics is the surest way to immortality. If you make a big discovery in mathematics, you will be remembered.”
Hungarian-born Paul Erdős (1913–1996) was a legendary mathematician of the 20th century. He is famous for having published more research papers than anyone since Euler. Both of his parents used to teach mathematics.
At 16, his father made him familiar with two of his lifetime favorite subjects; set theory and infinite series. Erdős always remembered his parents with great affection and love. At 17, he started university in Budapest then he left for the US during the pre-war years. At 20…
A closer look at their concerns about the Starlink broadband constellation.
The Starlink satellite constellation is an ambitious project initiated by SpaceX’s CEO Elon Musk to provide high-speed internet anywhere around the globe.
In 2015, Musk announced the startup of the network of communication satellites with a statement that “there is a significant unmet demand for low-cost global broadband capabilities.”
They have launched nearly 600 satellites in low-Earth-orbit (LEO) so far and are planning to extend it to the interconnected network of about 12,000 small satellites. The network of satellites is connected by space lasers. The main concern they have is global connectivity through the world’s largest Low-Earth-orbit broadband constellation.
The…
The black hole tunneling method is discussed here, in purely semiclassical limits
Background knowledge
In 1905, Albert Einstein postulated that the laws of physics are similar for all inertial observers and the speed of light in a vacuum is independent of the motion of observers. This was known as the theory of special relativity. It introduced a new dimension for all physics and proposed new concepts regarding space and time. In fact, it forms part of the foundation of modern physics.
Ten years later in 1915 he succeeded to include acceleration in the preceding theory and published his new theory known as the general theory of relativity. According to this theory matter and energy…
“Logic will get you from A to B, imagination takes you everywhere”
Einstein completed his Ph.D. thesis in 1905 with Professor Alfred Kleiner, who was an experimental physicist at the University of Zürich. He was awarded a doctorate degree with the dissertation entitled “A New Determination of Molecular Dimensions.’’ It was not the same institute from where Einstein completed his previous degree, it was ETH, and ETH was not allowed to award PhDs at that time. Until 1909, their students were authorized to submit their dissertations to the University of Zürich.
The year 1905 was known to be the annus mirabilis means “marvelous year” of Albert Einstein’s life. That year he successfully…
The first mechanical calculator
“All of humanity’s problems stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone.”
― Blaise Pascal, Pensées
Mathematics is an integral part of every scientific field nowadays. We can carry out some of the mathematical operations in our brains, but some are certainly tiresome and require the use of a calculator. At present, they are digitalized but it was not the same before.
The origination of the first machine-like calculator belongs to Blaise Pascal (1623–1662) who was a French mathematician and philosopher. He devised this machine at such a young age of 18 in around 1642. …
A history of navigation long before the discovery of the magnetic compass
He had bought a large map representing the sea,
Without the least vestige of land:
And the crew were much pleased when they found it to be
a map they could all understand.“What’s the good of Mercator’s North Poles and Equators,
Tropics, Zones, and Meridian Lines?”
So the Bellman would cry: and the crew would reply
“They are merely conventional signs!”
Has anyone ever wondered how pirates used to sail around the seas besides a big hat and a parrot on their arm?
How did they know where they are moving or their destination without the…
The Golden Ratio has inspired thinkers of all disciplines like no other number in the history of mathematics
Penrose tiles
The Penrose tiles or tesselations form when you indefinitely place the shapes over and over again in different orientations to totally enfold a surface, but the pattern never repeats. It is called non-periodic tiling because it lacks translational symmetry.
Sir Roger Penrose an English mathematical physicist who is well known for his work in cosmology and the general theory of relativity discovered three different types of non-periodic tilings in the 1970s. He was not the leading one in discovering this special pattern of tiles, but certainly, he was the most popular one as the pattern is named after him.
For…
The theoretical limit of backward time traveling gives rise to many paradoxes
At a certain point in our lives, we all wish to go back to the time and change things or bad decisions, as well as, rush to the future to see what’s there. But unfortunately, it has not been able to happen yet.
The predestination paradox is the most mind-boggling among other paradoxes associated with the concept of time travel such as the grandfather paradox and bootstrap paradox. It is also known as the causal loop paradox.
To understand this paradox we have to be clear about the concept of time and causality.
- According to Einstein’s special relativity theory, time…
Abel was done to death by poverty, Galois by stupidity
“Abel was done to death by poverty, Galois by stupidity. In all the history of science, there is no completer example of the triumph of crass stupidity over untamable genius than is afforded by the all too brief life of Évariste Galois. The record of his misfortunes might well stand as a sinister monument to all self-assured pedagogues, unscrupulous politicians, and conceited academicians. Galois was no “ineffectual angel,” but even his magnificent powers were shattered before the massed stupidity aligned against him, and he beat his life out fighting one unconquerable fool after another.”
— Men of mathematics by E…
A theorem which is simple yet remained unsolved for a long time
Historical context
The origin of the four-color map theorem dates back to 1852. Its emergence is quite captivating. Once a person named Francis Guthrie was trying to color the Britain countries on the map, he then suspected that he is able to do that by using only four colors. Little did he knew that his thinking will be going to pose a genuine problem that will remain unanswered for such a long time.
He had a discussion about that problem with his brother Frederick who was a student of the famous mathematician Augustus De Morgan at University College London. …
Areeba Merriam
“Math is an essential tool for physics and physics is a rich source of inspiration in maths” |Researcher|MS Maths|Email: areeba@math.qau.edu.pk
