DANIEL JUSTENS
90 articles published in Tangente
History and CultureN°85Feb 20, 2023Did Pascal invent public transport?
A great many websites hail Pascal as the brilliant inventor of public transport. Is there any basis for this claim? Was Pascal one of the architects of this revolutionary, modern system of travel?
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History and CultureN°210Feb 20, 2023Hervé Lehning:
It is impossible to sum up the scientific and educational work of a man such as our colleague and friend Hervé Lehning. More than a thousand articles bear his name! One way to gain a sense of the man is through his vast body of writing.
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History and CultureN°85Feb 20, 2023Draining the Marais Poitevin
Known far beyond France’s borders, the Marais Poitevin has become a haven for many plant and animal species: today, the “Green Venice” covers nearly 100,000 hectares of lush natural landscape! But do you know its history?
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History and CultureN°85Feb 20, 2023Writing a treatise on sound at the age of 11
The links between music and mathematics are well established. There was a time when it was not unusual for the most learned minds to pursue both with equal delight. Pascal, too, is said to have explored questions relating to sound, further evidence of his astonishing precocity.
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History and CultureN°85Feb 18, 2023Betting on the existence of God
Pascal's Pensées abounds in arguments and reflections that assess the probability of a supreme being's existence. A careful, unabridged reading of the various fragments reveals a philosopher steeped in doubt and possessed of extraordinary subtlety.
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History and CultureN°85Feb 17, 2023On stage too!
The mathematician is also one of the central characters in a philosophical comedy by Jean-Claude Brisville (1922–2014), best known to the general public for Le Souper (1989), featuring Talleyrand and Fouché, whose film adaptation was a memorable success.
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History and CultureN°208Oct 24, 2022What neurologists think
It seems widely accepted that our faculties diminish with age. What about our capacity to do mathematics? What can neuroscience specialists teach us about this?
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Math for everyoneN°207Aug 19, 2022The construction of mental images
Can we speak of abstraction in concrete terms? The question deserves asking, since in everyday language "abstract" and "concrete" are often taken to be opposites. In reality, things are more subtle. What if abstraction were nothing but an illusion?
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History and CultureN°206Jun 21, 2022A sarcastic critique of economic liberalism
In our "modern" and "civilized" societies, some workers are overwhelmed with work while a whole section of the population is shut out of employment. Is this situation inevitable? Bertrand Russell dismantled certain dogmas of economic liberalism point by point and showed that other models of society are possible.
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Math for everyoneN°204Feb 17, 2022Convexity in finance
Mathematics plays an important role in finance. In recent years, returns on capital have been drastically reduced for various economic and political reasons. In Europe today, negligible returns on capital are becoming the norm, yet inflation remains very real, at around 5%.
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Math for everyoneN°204Feb 15, 2022Optimizing consumption
Making consumption choices is no easy matter. But for a rational consumer, the notion of convexity is extremely useful! Consumer theory provides a case in point here.
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History and CultureN°204Feb 15, 2022Revisiting the classics…
Numerous shows with mathematical content are regularly created. But might there be mathematics in theatre itself? We can revisit the classics from a different perspective. Let's reread Molière, Marivaux and Ionesco.
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