Statistical test relates pathogen mutation to infectious disease progression

Maths NewsBy vitalclick December 28, 2017

Ryosuke Omori and Jianhong Wu develop an inductive algorithm to study site-specific nucleotide frequencies using a multi-strain susceptible-infective-removed (SIR) model to better understand infectious disease epistemology, pathogen evolution, and population dynamics. Credit: Wikimedia Commons. Nucleic acid sequencing methods, which determine the order of nucleotides in DNA fragments, are rapidly progressing. These processes yield large quantities…

Scientists explain how the process of erosion forms unusual shapes and structures

Maths NewsBy vitalclick December 28, 2017

Credit: Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology Scientists at Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology have determined through mathematical modeling that the process of erosion optimizes the shapes of disintegrating materials. Natural wind and water erosion often creates spectacular landforms such as natural arches and bridges, balanced pillars and domes. The national parks of Utah…

Mathematicians obtain new fundamental results in functional inequalities

Maths NewsBy vitalclick December 27, 2017

Credit: RUDN University Invited professor of RUDN University Durvudkhan Suragan and a team of colleagues have obtained and established new types of functional inequalities. Hardy’s inequalities are an important type of problem solving in mathematical physics. The results of the study were published in Advances in Mathematics. The properties of the so-called Hardy’s inequalities have…

Mathematical model reveals solution to sloshing coffee

Maths NewsBy vitalclick December 21, 2017

Credit: CC0 Public Domain Americans drink an average of 3.1 cups of coffee per day; for many people, the popular beverage is a morning necessity. When carrying a liquid, common sense says to walk slowly and refrain from overfilling the container. But when commuters rush out the door with coffee in hand, chances are their…

Did you solve it? Feast on these mathematical snacks

Maths NewsBy vitalclick December 18, 2017

In my puzzle blog earlier today I set you the following three questions: 1) In the image of an equilateral triangle above, what fraction of the whole triangle is the red triangle? Solution: 1/4 You could have shown this in one of at least three ways, illustrated below: by dividing the entire triangle into 8…

Can math predict what you'll do next?

Maths NewsBy vitalclick December 15, 2017

Big data makes it a bit easier to guess your next move. Credit: blackboard1965/shutterstock.com Good scientists are not only able to uncover patterns in the things they study, but to use this information to predict the future. Meteorologists study atmospheric pressure and wind speed to predict the trajectories of future storms. A biologist may predict…

First mathematical network model for the Battle of the Sexes

Maths NewsBy vitalclick December 15, 2017

Why is it easier to bridge conflicting interests in one neighbourhood than in another? Social scientists think that the residents’ social networks may play an important role in the answer to this question. Sociologists and theoretical physicists from Utrecht University have recently created a theoretical model for this complex problem. Using the popular game Battle…

Mathematicians crack 44-year-old problem

Maths NewsBy vitalclick December 13, 2017

Tarski proved that a circle with a radius of one cannot be completely covered by strips whose combined width is smaller than two — the circle’s diameter. Each of the strips in the image has its own length and color. Credit: MIPT Israel Institute of Technology and Alexandr Polyanskii from the Moscow Institute of Physics…

New statistical method links vast records, shows negative effect of Texas voter ID law

Maths NewsBy vitalclick December 11, 2017

As state voter identification (ID) laws across the country are being contested amid questions about the integrity of the voting process, researchers have developed a new statistical method that not only matches multiple records with precision, but can also identify the scope of discrimination when applied to voter ID laws. Recently featured in the American…

Mathematical model mimics melanoma

Maths NewsBy vitalclick December 1, 2017

Mathematical model mimics melanoma. Left: melanoma cells grown in culture with normal cells form clusters that resemble proto-tumors. Right: Simulations using a modified version of the Widom-Rowlinson model replicate patterns of melanoma cell growth seen in laboratory experiments by controlling the exclusion area — the amount of space required — around two types of simulated…

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