Ivars Peterson

All Stories by Ivars Peterson

  1. Math

    Math Olympiad in Athens

    A team from the United States placed second in this year's International Mathematical Olympiad.

  2. Math

    Waring Experiments

    Expressing integers as the sums of squares or other powers has a long history.

  3. Math

    Pythagoras Plays Ball

    The official dimensions of baseball's home plate aren't Pythagorean.

  4. Math

    Dogs Catching Frisbees

    When navigating to intercept a thrown Frisbee, dogs appear to use the same geometric strategy that a baseball fielder employs to snag a fly ball hit into the outfield.

  5. Math

    Dogs Catching Frisbees

    When navigating to intercept a thrown Frisbee, dogs appear to use the same geometric strategy that a baseball fielder employs to snag a fly ball hit into the outfield.

  6. Computing

    Calculating Swarms

    Ant teamwork suggests models for computing faster and organizing better.

  7. Math

    Earth Hole

    What path would an object falling down a hole through Earth follow?

  8. Math

    Groups, Graphs, and Erdös Numbers

    Erdös numbers reveal the great extent of mathematical collaboration.

  9. Math

    Priming Upward

    A singular effort has turned up what is now the largest known prime number.

  10. Math

    Playing Pig, Optimally

    The simple dice game Pig is surprisingly complex when you're trying to find an optimal strategy for playing it.

  11. Math

    A Measure of Beauty

    In the 1930s, mathematician G.D. Birkhoff proposed a formula for computing aesthetic value.

  12. Math

    Extra Time, Math, and the SAT

    Extra time on the math portion of the SAT helps the most able students the most.