Christian Laforest
6 articles published in Tangente
Math for everyoneN°72Oct 09, 2019Finding your way quickly and efficiently
Is the shortest path from A to B always a straight line? Usually, yes. But when we must follow the network of roads and intersections in a city, we need a different perspective. That is where Dijkstra's algorithm comes to the rescue!
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Math for everyoneN°72Oct 09, 2019Meeting constraints on vertex degrees
What is the smallest graph with a given set of degrees? Forty years ago, an article provided an elegant, constructive answer to this question.
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Math for everyoneN°72Oct 09, 2019Randomness to the rescue of satisfiability
The Boolean universe is a small mathematical world in which only two values exist: True and False. Yet achieving satisfaction is already complicated! Fortunately, randomness comes to our rescue: choosing by a coin toss can sometimes bring us surprisingly close to the maximum we seek.
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Math for everyoneN°176May 24, 2017Online algorithmsMaking decisions without knowing the future
The gift of foreseeing the future would obviously be a considerable advantage. Who has never dreamed of it? Without a crystal ball, mathematics allows us to make decisions that cost us relatively little, even though we do not know what the future holds. Welcome to the world of online algorithms.
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Math for everyoneN°174Jan 16, 2017Formal languages and automata
What do a dictionary, a computer program and the DNA in our cells have in common? Language! A deterministic finite automaton is a useful practical tool for working with this concept. But the limitations of these abstract machines soon become apparent…
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Math for everyoneN°173Nov 22, 2016In search of friends
Integers never cease to fascinate us: divisibility raises some formidable questions, as several conjectures about perfect numbers attest. Here, experimenting with a computer is a valuable aid in the hunt for counterexamples.
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