History and Culture
History of mathematics and cultural connections
2019: a random year | Tangente
Randomness is the theme of the 2019 mathematical calendar published by Presses universitaires de Grenoble and edited by Ana Rechtman Bulajich.
Speaking numbers
Do you speak numbers? Writing numbers is perfectly automatic, but reading them raises several questions.
Telling the story of numbers
Describing quantities in terms other than "few" or "many," comparing them, manipulating them without touching or seeing them… All this depends on numbers. Numbers have preoccupied humankind since prehistoric times. So what is the story of the invention that changed the face of the world: numeral systems?
The Klein bottle
The bottle named after Felix Klein is a classic of topology, yet its mathematical properties are still sometimes poorly understood. Let's delve beneath the surface to uncover its connection with the Möbius strip.
Knot theory according to Jean-Michel Othoniel | Tangente
Jean-Michel Othoniel is an original sculptor in more ways than one. His exhibition "Géométries amoureuses" was held in Sète (Hérault) in 2017, and his current exhibition "Face à l'obscurité" has just closed at the MAMC in Saint-Etienne (Loire).
This is not a Möbius strip! | Tangente
Think you know everything about the Möbius strip, topology's quintessential object? Think again! Paper models of it have thickness, which undermines some of their properties. Let's explore these subtleties.
The story of a geometry unlike any other
A science that is hard to define in a few words, topology has found its way into geometry, analysis and even algebra. How did it emerge in the mathematical world? Where is it useful? And above all, what is topology? Let's look back at the birth of a new way of seeing our space…
Breakthrough Prize awarded to Vincent Lafforgue | Tangente
French mathematician Vincent Lafforgue, brother of 2002 Fields Medalist Laurent Lafforgue, has won the 2019 Breakthrough Prize in Mathematics, worth $3 million, "for his fundamental and elegant contributions to the Langlands program in the function field case."
180 seconds of popular science | Tangente
Three minutes flat is not long to sum up a thesis—especially when the presentation has to be accessible to a wide audience. That is the daunting challenge faced each year by a number of French-speaking doctoral students in "My Thesis in 180 Seconds," modelled on the English-language Three Minute Thesis competition.
Tangente awards 2018
Ever since Napoleon's coronation in 1804, 2 December has been a day for coronations. Here are the many winners of Club Tangente's 2018 competitions and prizes, honoured at the Musée des Arts et Métiers.
Population dynamics: overcoming data scarcity | Tangente
In some fields, data are scarce. Descriptive statistics are out of the question! Mathematics offers other tools: topology and probability help ecologists predict how groups of species will evolve.
How to simulate human behavior | Tangente
In video games, the challenge is to simulate human behavior so that users feel they are facing other players. Designing an artificial character is not simply a matter of optimization.
The pioneers – A mathematical brief | Tangente
Artificial intelligence has its roots in the daring efforts of pioneers who sought to "mechanize" human thought.
The birth of artificial intelligence | Tangente
The conjecture that all cognitive functions can be described precisely enough to be reproduced on computers has never been proved or disproved. It forms the basis of artificial intelligence as a scientific discipline.
The Villani report on AI | Tangente
Last March, mathematician and member of parliament Cédric Villani oversaw the drafting of a report on artificial intelligence (AI), a kind of "roadmap" charting the field's current state and future.
AI and Big Data: pros and cons | Tangente
Artificial intelligence and Big Data have taken center stage in scientific research in recent years. The two fields are bound to interact, for better—and sometimes for worse, unless we are careful.
Self-driving cars and the 17th problem... | Tangente
Classical 19th-century mathematics is now joining forces with the latest advances in computational mathematics! In practical terms, rational functions are being enlisted to enable the self-driving cars of the future to travel safely…
Ethical driving - mathematics brief | Tangente
Programming self-driving cars raises ethical questions. Unexpected new conundrums have emerged. Some require only minor adjustments, but others remain unsolvable for now.
Computer-assisted proofs | Tangente
Can a machine prove a theorem? Probably not without a human to guide it, but computers are becoming increasingly useful assistants—for example, by turning a human proof into a formal one. Spectacular developments and applications are currently under way.
Novelli Prize opens to schools | Tangente
Established in 2013, the Bernard-Novelli Prize rewards a young person—a middle or high school student—or a group of young people for creating a computer program involving games and mathematics.