ELISABETH BUSSER
226 articles published in Tangente
Math for everyoneN°208Oct 20, 2022A useful power
Talking about the "power of a point with respect to a circle" may seem old-fashioned nowadays. Yet this elegant geometric notion had its heyday and its uses. Its applications to various mathematical questions are highly fruitful.
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Math for everyoneN°207Aug 20, 2022Origami—even in pill form!
No, this is no longer science fiction: origami-inspired minirobots can now deliver medication exactly where it is needed in the human body.
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Math for everyoneN°207Aug 20, 2022The theory of paper folding
Historically, the art of paper folding is thought to have emerged in China as early as the 2nd century BCE. Wherever it developed, the practice seems to have been closely linked to the advent of paper.
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Math for everyoneN°207Aug 19, 20222022 Fields Medals: some lovely surprises
The Fields Medals, awarded every four years, were announced in early July! France can take pride in a new triumph with Hugo Duminil-Copin. For the second time, a woman, Maryna Viazovska, has been honored. British mathematician James Maynard and American–South Korean June Huh round out this year's medalists.
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Math for everyoneN°207Aug 19, 2022Van der Waerden's conjecture solved!
Manjul Bhargava, a mathematician of Indian origin who was born in Canada in 1974 and is now a professor at Princeton University in the United States, has just proved van der Waerden's conjecture.
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Math for everyoneN°206Jun 21, 2022From intuition to rigor
In Euclid’s geometry, a line already divided the plane into two distinct regions, but negative lengths were not accepted. How can the algebraic notions of direction and measurement be brought into geometry?
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History and CultureN°82May 19, 2022An inspiration to artists
Évariste Galois's eventful life has inspired many artists. He appears in several plays, a film and even... an opera!
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Math for everyoneN°205Apr 20, 2022Proving without saying a word
No drawing or diagram can ever replace a "proper" proof, but both can help make a proof self-evident. In this respect, proofs without words, so beloved of mathematicians, are a fine exercise in style. Some have become classics of the genre.
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History and CultureN°205Apr 15, 2022Dennis Sullivan wins the 2022 Abel Prize
The Abel Prize, one of mathematics' most prestigious honors alongside the Fields Medal, has just been awarded to American mathematician Dennis Parnell Sullivan (born in 1941).
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Math for everyoneN°81Feb 14, 2022A geometric and historical concept
Etymologically, the word "geometry" means the measurement of the Earth. Geometry has therefore always dealt with "lengths" and "distances." Initially empirical, the concept was gradually refined, structured, and axiomatized from antiquity to the present day—a long journey through both time and space.
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Math for everyoneN°81Feb 14, 2022Equidistance curves
We know how to locate points equidistant from one point, two points, or even two lines—but what about points equidistant from other geometric figures?
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Math for everyoneN°203Dec 18, 2021An architect's dream?
The golden ratio, as everyone knows, crops up everywhere in art... provided, that is, you are determined to find it and willing to overlook (!) a few approximations or anachronistic units of measurement. Let's trace the writings that linked it to architecture and brought it to public attention.
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