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A new definition of the International System of Units
The conference held in Versailles in November 2018 changed four units of measurement, including the kilo. These new units will no longer depend on specific experiments. Their definitions will take effect in May 2019. What better opportunity to look back at the origins and evolution of our units of measurement?
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Did Leibniz really invent the ancestor of the computer?
The article dispels the myth of Leibniz as a forerunner of the computer by examining the historical reality of his universal-language project.
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Wasan to yōsan: Japan's Meiji math revolution | Tangente
The opening of Japan during the Meiji era brought changes in the way mathematics was done and written. Questions of method, but also of language, arose. Kikuchi Dairoku, the future Minister of Education of Japan, overhauled mathematics textbooks accordingly.
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The geoid: the Earth's true shape | Tangente
The surface most familiar to us, the one we walk on every day, raises its fair share of questions: what exactly is the shape of the Earth? It is neither quite a sphere nor an ellipsoid. This irregular object, the geoid, has some subtle properties. We spoke with a specialist.
BENOIT RITTAUDApr 11, 2019