All articles
Dive into the fascinating world of mathematics with our captivating articles, written by passionate experts. Whether you are a curious amateur or a seasoned mathematician, our articles cover a wide range of topics, from fundamental concepts to the latest discoveries, including practical applications and philosophical reflections.
Of machines and men: Catalan and Mihailescu | Tangente
Little stories about conjectures.
The engine of mathematics
Mathematical progress owes much to conjectures, large and small, that challenge mathematicians. This was true long before Landon Clay and others offered million-dollar prizes: conjectures are the engine of mathematics.
Optimize athletic performance with maths | Tangente
The use of maths to optimize performance dates back to ancient Greece; today it extends to almost every discipline and is even spreading among the general public.
The central limit theorem and the laws of large numbers: so many laws!
One might expect the many independent causes behind a phenomenon to generate chaos (in the everyday, not the mathematical, sense). Nothing could be further from the truth—quite the opposite! The extreme regularity of complex phenomena has been proved to varying degrees...
Finance, medicine, justice... Mistakes, yes; mathematics, no!
The media regularly blur the distinction between mathematics as a formidable tool and the ways in which some people use it—incorrectly, ideologically or with deliberately malicious intent.
Tangente Book Prize 2015: results & winners | Tangente
The jury has delivered its verdict. It awarded the Tangente Book Prize to Vincent Borrelli and Jean-Luc Rullière, and also gave a special mention to two great ladies, Stella Baruk and Évelyne Barbin.
John von Neumann: means and excess
The Banach–Tarski paradox claims that, in theory, the pieces of a single loaf can be turned into two loaves. It fell to the protean genius John von Neumann to explain the underlying reason for this mathematical miracle. The notion of amenability that he introduced then spread widely.
Can opinion polls be trusted?
How are opinion polls conducted? What mathematical theory underpins them? What biases affect them? A survey of surveys...
A year of mathematical Olympiads
The world of mathematics competitions is the subject of the recently released film Le Monde de Nathan (see Tangente 165, page 39). This year, France has moved up the rankings. For mathematics enthusiasts, these are all opportunities to immerse themselves in the friendly, competitive atmosphere of competition.
Plausible conjectures… that turn out to be false!
We often assume that the only mistakes good mathematicians make are trivial slips caused by momentary inattention, such as errors in simple calculations. Yet some have put forward mathematical conjectures that proved false—sometimes spectacularly so.
Maryam Mirzakhani
Maryam Mirzakhani's recognition in Seoul in 2014 was a landmark: for the first time, mathematics' most prestigious award went to a woman—an Iranian woman, no less. Can we explain her work on surfaces to our readers? This article attempts to rise to the challenge.