Everyday Math
Applied mathematics to everyday life: elections, sport, music, road traffic, weather, computer science, finance
From algebraic identities to useful applications
The standard identities studied in middle school (and now at the start of high school…) can prove very useful in finding the solutions to certain equations, including quadratics. The trick is knowing where these mysterious identities are hiding!
Newton's formula
What a legacy! Newton's binomial formula finds applications in both trigonometry and probability…
The saga of the Nobel Prizes 3 | Tangente
When the collaboration between mathematics and economics results in Nobel Prizes being won...
The economist's toolkit: integral calculus
The concept of an integral can be useful in economics, for example to define an expected cost (see the article "Inventory management in a random environment")
The economist's toolkit: analysis | Tangente
Economics draws on several tools from mathematical analysis, including the derivative.
The saga of economic indicators 2 | Tangente
What does the consumer price index—the famous "housewife's shopping basket"—really measure?
The Nobel Prize saga, part 4 | Tangente
The Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences saga concludes with the economists honored for their research in finance.
The Nobel Prize saga, part 1 | Tangente
Contrary to popular belief, there is no Nobel Prize in Economics! Discover the truth about this prize...
French economy boosted by mathematics | Tangente
Mathematics has a major socioeconomic impact in France. AMIES proves it!
Unemployment and energy supply: prob... | Tangente
Discover mathematician Hermann Laurent's proposal for putting unemployed people to work.
Emergence in economics | Tangente
Economics, too, has emergent properties! They create order despite apparent disorder, as if through "self-organization."
An introduction to econometrics
Economic models are only simplified representations of reality. Econometrics provides a set of tools for estimating the parameters of these models and testing their validity. The trouble is, the closer we want to get to reality, the more complex the model becomes…
What consumers prefer
How can we model the behavior of a particular consumer? Their tastes, needs and available budget all help shape their choice. The mathematical concepts of preference, indifference and utility should help us...
Money and inflation: two inseparable concepts
The desire for wealth fuels many people's ambitions and sometimes dictates their behavior. While no one now doubts the usefulness of money in our modern way of life (!), who knows its history? And how is money linked to inflation?
Economics in question
What is economics? Can it be regarded as a science? What role do mathematical models play in its analysis and development? Can they counterbalance decisions based exclusively on a dogmatic approach?
When economics illustrates matrix algebra
Economists' data can often be arranged in rectangular tables that can be manipulated according to precise rules tied to the mathematical concept of linearity. Matrix algebra can thus be illustrated with concrete examples drawn from economics.
Understanding gross domestic product
There are many ways to measure a nation's wealth. Calculating gross domestic product is one of them, but other, complementary indicators are also used.
Antoine Cournot: from mathematics to economics
Economics did not always have much to do with mathematics, and for a long time its reasoning was verbal, until the arrival of thinkers such as Antoine Cournot, who brought rationality into the field in the 19th century.
Fermat and his little theorem: history | Tangente
In the 17th century, Pierre de Fermat, though not a professional mathematician, was one of the pioneers of number theory. Less famous than his "last" theorem, whose proof has yielded more applications than the statement alone, his "little" theorem is immensely useful to us.
Marcel Berger: a life devoted to geometry | Tangente
Everyone who met Marcel Berger (1927–2016) will remember this tall, athletic, resolute man with a strikingly intelligent gaze vividly.