Everyday Math
Applied mathematics to everyday life: elections, sport, music, road traffic, weather, computer science, finance
Data visualization: bring your data to life
Today's connected world generates a continuous stream of raw data. For anyone seeking to explore and interpret it through graphical representations, data visualization is the visible tip of the Big Data iceberg. The goal? To convey a message and make decision-making easier...
Big Data: data, science's new El Dorado
People are talking about Big Data in industry, in university programs and online. Everywhere! But what does this term actually mean? It is a revolutionary technology that affects every major sector, from finance and transportation to science.
The first America: Mathematical cartography in 1507
This little "green globe," dating from the early 16th century and measuring just fourteen centimeters in diameter, is the first to bear the name "America"—in four places, no less, as if to proclaim the discovery beyond doubt.
Heron in space
Heron's formula extends to quadrilaterals and tetrahedra, as well as to all polyhedra, yielding many applications that remain relevant today.
Buffon and chance in geometry
In a 1733 paper, the Comte de Buffon introduced what is now known as "Buffon's needle problem." This experiment illustrates a field of mathematics that is flourishing today: stochastic geometry, with its many applications ranging from telecommunications to medical imaging.
Mobile phones: location, networks and mathematics
A spy's dream would be for the target—the person under surveillance—to carry a microphone and a camera and be locatable. In fact, this is no longer a dream: everyone now owns a smartphone, complete with a microphone, a camera and GPS. The spy's life has become so easy…
From vector spaces to affine spaces… and back again!
Linear algebra arose from the need to provide a framework for ordinary geometry. From a computational standpoint, it has been a success! By making certain operations and manipulations simpler and more systematic, it streamlines geometric reasoning and makes it more rigorous.
Linear maps: the "hard core" of linear… algebra
Linear maps are an essential concept in the theory of vector spaces. They have many uses, including designing and solving games.
Translations and rotations – Maths brief | Tangente
Translations and rotations have many applications—and not only in geometry!
A remarkable story: 30 years of making mathematics accessible
Who would have wagered in 1987, when a handful of enthusiasts had the outlandish idea of creating a professionally produced magazine devoted to the place of mathematics in the world, that Tangente would still be going thirty years later—and would become the leading reference for mathematical culture?
Publimath turns 20: the mathematics database
Publimath is a treasure trove of bibliographic resources for mathematics enthusiasts and educators alike.
Maryam Mirzakhani: a star has just gone out | Tangente
The brilliant Iranian mathematician Maryam Mirzakhani died of breast cancer on 15 July 2017, at the age of 40
And the angle makes history…
The so-called inscribed angle theorem, still part of every middle-school student's mathematical toolkit today, was already known to ancient geometers. It can sometimes have unusual applications.
Why not base 12? The advantages of the duodecimal system
If you talk to people about the history of arithmetic, whatever your specific subject, you can expect someone to ask this question at the end: why is our numeral system base 10 when base 12 would be so much more practical?
Applying the Chinese remainder theorem to RSA cryptography
The Chinese remainder theorem finds, among other things, applications in cryptography
Chinese remainder theorem: history and applications | Tangente
The Chinese remainder theorem owes its name to ancient Chinese mathematicians’ interest in the arrangement problems it describes. Originally a source of puzzles, it has since found more practical applications, particularly in cryptography.
Logarithms in everyday life | Tangente
Logarithms are also used to establish laws that attempt to account for human subjectivity.
The inverse of the exponential function
The introduction of logarithms can be traced back to the Renaissance, when they were used to solve computational problems. They have since found more theoretical applications and today even lie at the heart of some cryptographic systems—and hence of our computers.
Pascal's triangle, programming and Fourier | Tangente
Rich in countless combinatorial and numerical properties, Pascal's triangle is ubiquitous in mathematics. Some of its applications in analysis, however, remain little known. The capabilities of the fx-CP400+E computer algebra calculator suggest a signal-processing activity.
Caustics: curves of light and geometry | Tangente
In optics, the caustic of a curve is the envelope of the light rays emanating from the sun or another source. One appears in your breakfast cup every morning, illuminated by your kitchen or conservatory lights…