140 Year Old Math Problem-Solved!

Who:Professor Darren Crowdy of Imperial College London

What:Professor Darren Crowdy solved the practically impossible math problem that had befuddled mathematicians around the world for 14o years. This accomplishment is a breakthrough in the area of mathematics known as conformal mapping, a key theoretical tool used by mathematicians, scientists, and engineers. The formula used by Professor Darren Crowdy is now used by neuroscientists. In the mid 19th century two mathematicians Schwartz and Christoffel created a formula which is part of the solution to the 140 year problem. He quotes that, "This formula is an essential piece of mathematical kit which is used the world over. Now, with my additions to it, it can be used in far more complex scenarios than before. In industry, for example, this mapping tool was previously inadequate if a piece of metal was or other material was not uniform all over- for instance, if it contained parts of a different material, or had holes."

Where: Imperial College London, England

When: March 3, 2008

Link Source: http://www.dm.unito.it/personalpages/cerruti/mathnews.html

Get Ready For National Pi Day!!!

Who:Math geeks, students, quants, rocket scientists, teachers, students, your neighbors-and everyone else you would never expect to be a Pi fanatic!

What: These millions of people will gather on this very auspicious day to celebrate the ever so popular Pi! Not only will they be praising the beloved math symbol, they'll be eating it too! One of the activities is dropping the giant Pi symbol (similar to the ball drop on New Year's) at Pi Ground Zero. This year's celebration will be honoring Sir Isaac Newton, the person who bridged the change from the use by mathematicians of the tools of geometry, to further use in calculus. Every attendee will receive an official poster and t-shirt from National Pi Day with Sir Isaac Newton's picture on it.

Where: National Pi Day is a international holiday celebrated in cyberspace. This holiday is the first holiday to ever be celebrated on the web. Viewers online watch as the giant Pi symbol falls in Pi Ground Zero in New York.

When: National Pi Day is celebrated on March 14th every year because

the date 3/14 are the first three digits of Pi.

Link Source: http://www.dm.unito.it/personalpages/cerruti/mathnews.html

Why: National Pi Day was started because Pi fanatics around the world believed that Pi was such a great contribution to modern and past mathematical discoveries, and that it deserved it's own holiday.

The True Secret Behind Oscar Nominations

Who: Sociologists Nicole Esparza of Harvard University, and Gabriel Rossman of California University

What: Ms. Esparza and Mr. Rossman used records from the Internet Movie Database(IMDB) to see what may affect a performer's oppurtunity to get a nomination. They discovered that the nominations go to people who performed in dramas ( an actor/actress starring in a drama is nine times more likely to get a nomination than a performer in a non-drama), who are female, people who have been nominated in the past, and who command a high rank in the movie-credit pecking order.

When: January 21, 2008

Where: UCLA and Harvard University

Why: Both Mr. Rossman and Ms. Esparza both noticed a certain conformity and guidelines to Oscar nominations. They decided that almost every performer nominated was under the same categories as listed above from about the years 1927- , and from there the research project was started.

My Opinion: I am against the fact that there are certain guidelines into which performers are nominated for an Oscar. No matter which genre of movie, it still requires the actor/actresses to work extremely hard. In addition, just because someone was nominated before, doesn't mean they are still good enough to be nominated again, and that someone else new isn't good, if not better.

Source Link:http://www.livescience.com/strangenews/080122-oscar-nominations.html