Combinatorics and games
Explore mathematics articles on the theme of combinatorics and games.
Plane coloring and the minimum chromatic number | Tangente
In 1950, American mathematician Edward Nelson (1932–2014) proposed an entertaining coloring problem.
Graph vertex degree constraints | Tangente
What is the smallest graph with a given set of degrees? Forty years ago, an article provided an elegant, constructive answer to this question.
Pierre Duchet: research in action | Tangente
Mathematician Pierre Duchet died on October 27 last year at his home in Mexico City. A friend of the editorial team at Tangente, this specialist in combinatorics, discrete mathematics and especially graph theory was always eager to share his work with younger generations.
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.
Maths as an accessory: briefs and curiosities
The latest trendy creations for mathematical fashion lovers
Sam Loyd: a puzzle-making mathematician in 15 minutes
Fifteen minutes to retrace the key moments in a mathematician's career: that was the challenge set—twice during the day—for the outstanding speakers in the conference room at Tangente's 30th-anniversary celebration (times in parentheses).
Mathematics to make you think: games and mental arithmetic
To celebrate Tangente's 30th anniversary, here are a few small mathematical challenges to get you thinking carefully...
Tangente's 30th anniversary program | Tangente Magazine
Here is the programme (which will be updated regularly) for Tangente's 30th anniversary celebrations at the Musée des arts et métiers on Sunday, December 3, 2017. Admission is free for everyone!
The mysteries of the Ishango bone | Tangente Magazine
The mysterious Ishango bone has not yet given up all its secrets
Numbers in a triangle: math puzzles to explore
The arrangement of numbers in Pascal's triangle obviously lends itself to play, and many mathematical recreations refer to it.
Pascal's triangle: a thousand-year history | Tangente
"Pascal's triangle" may have been discovered by Indians more than two thousand years ago. It reached the Arab-Muslim world and China as early as the 11th century. It did not appear in Europe until the 16th century, when Blaise Pascal began to study it rigorously.
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.