Fabien Aoustin
140 articles published in Tangente
Math for everyoneN°72Oct 09, 2019The moving sofa problem
Moving house always brings a host of problems... including mathematical puzzles! One of them was formalized by Leo Moser in 1966.
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Math for everyoneN°72Oct 09, 2019Matrimonial mathematics
Sets of points can give rise to some delightful optimization problems.
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Math for everyoneN°72Oct 09, 2019The art of avoiding crossings
Artists using mathematics: nothing new there. But artists posing optimization problems that mathematicians still cannot solve: now that is surprising! One seemingly innocuous conjecture about drawing graphs has resisted all attempts at proof for fifty years.
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History and CultureN°189Jul 16, 2019A math problem taken to court
Should the solution to a mathematical puzzle have to be approved by a judge? If the case reported here is anything to go by, the answer is not so simple.
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Math for everyoneN°185Nov 21, 2018Coloring the plane: when geometry meets topology
For plane coloring, we already knew that four colors were enough to color any map so that no two neighboring countries ever had the same color.
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Math for everyoneN°185Nov 21, 2018Untangling the mysteries of rubbery deformations
The metric properties of modelling-clay objects change when they are deformed. Other properties, known as topological properties, remain unchanged. Surprisingly, algebra enters the picture. This naturally leads us to consider knots and the constituent molecules of DNA.
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History and CultureN°68Oct 12, 2018The pioneers
Artificial intelligence has its roots in the daring efforts of pioneers who sought to "mechanize" human thought.
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Math for everyoneN°184Sep 25, 2018False "proofs"
Although fallacious proofs are not scams, they remain a teaching tool that often amuses math buffs… and everyone else!
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KnowledgeN°183Jul 17, 2018From intuition to rigor
Studying derivatives of functions sometimes leaves only a distant memory of applying somewhat esoteric formulas. Yet the underlying idea is as simple and concrete as it is effective. What if we went back to basics to gain a better grasp of the concept's power?
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History and CultureN°67Jun 28, 2018The Leslie model
Modeling changes in an animal population is a frequently studied topic in mathematics and biology. But how can we account for the fact that individuals produce different numbers of offspring depending on their age? The Leslie model addresses these questions.
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History and CultureN°180Jan 29, 2018A nest of theorems
Heron's formula is strikingly simple. All the more remarkably, it provides a highly effective way to prove other, equally elegant results. It even leads to more fascinating problems in geometry!
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History and CultureN°180Jan 29, 2018A high-flying formula
Most of us learned how to use a compass to construct a triangle from the lengths of its three sides. Those three numbers are enough to determine a triangle. But how can we find its area from those data alone? That is precisely what Heron's formula does.
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