BERTRAND HAUCHECORNE
179 articles published in Tangente
N°77Feb 18, 2021“Digital” or “numeric”?
Which of the two adjectives “digital” and “numeric,” both often used as nouns, should we use? Do they really mean the same thing? Their respective supporters are at loggerheads.
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KnowledgeN°198Feb 01, 2021An extraordinary scientist
How did a pure mathematician trained at Cambridge come to win the Nobel Prize in Physics at the age of 89? This is the remarkable story of an extraordinary scientist who realized that his work in topology could help shed light on black holes.
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Reading noteN°197Dec 03, 2020In publishing, they come in pairs
The 20th century left us some striking examples of editorial partnerships in mathematics education.
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History and CultureN°197Dec 03, 2020Famous partnerships in research
Compound theorem names offer a clue as to which pair of mathematicians worked on the subject... or perhaps not.
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History and CultureN°197Dec 02, 2020A century of conjectures
Mathematics has always advanced through the curiosity of people seeking to answer new questions and pose new problems. Once solved, these give rise to others, creating an endless chain of advances in knowledge.
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Math for everyoneN°76Nov 05, 2020Continued fractions,
Real numbers can be written without making an arbitrary choice of base. Euclid's algorithm provides a method that extends to all real numbers and leads to the notion of a continued fraction. In this notation, the golden ratio becomes the simplest irrational number to write!
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Reading noteN°76Nov 04, 2020A little etymology
Proofs by induction were given long before this form of reasoning was formalized, let alone named.
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Math for everyoneN°195Jul 14, 2020Numbers and measurement
Numbers and measurement have followed parallel paths throughout history. While it is easy to assign a number to a length or volume, this becomes more difficult for properties that are not linear, such as temperature or the acidity of a solution.
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Math for everyoneN°195Jul 14, 2020Municipal elections: behind the scenes of the PLM Act
Do Parisian voters know that they are choosing the members of three different assemblies? Do they understand how the lucky winners are selected once the votes have been counted? In Marseille and Lyon too, the winner is not necessarily the candidate who received the most votes!
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Games and ChallengesN°194May 21, 2020Reference books
Guided by his passions and discoveries, John Conway wrote many fascinating books, regrettably few of which have been translated.
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Games and ChallengesN°194May 20, 2020Conway, the game-playing mathematician
John Conway advanced finite group theory, number theory, topology, theoretical physics, combinatorial game theory and geometry. His originality, creativity and extraordinary personality made him popular with mathematical game enthusiasts everywhere, especially after he created the Game of Life in the 1970s.
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History and CultureN°194May 20, 2020Conway and group theory
Conway developed a passion for groups—and sporadic groups in particular—at an early age.
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