Tag: Math

The promise of quantum computing?

Anyone who follows the computing industry knows that Moore's Law, the observation that computing power doubles every couple of years, has been sputtering in recent years.  This isn't unexpected.  Gordon Moore himself predicted that eventually the laws of physics would become a constraint. One of the technological hopes for a revival is quantum computing.  Quantum … Continue reading The promise of quantum computing? →

Max Tegmark and MinutePhysics on the mathematical universe

This is a subject that we've discussed repeatedly here, so I thought you might find Tegmark's narration of this video interesting. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGG4HmlotJE I'm pretty sure that mathematics are not only something humans created, that they are based on relations we observe in the world, but beyond that, I remain largely agnostic on the Mathematical Universe Hypothesis … Continue reading Max Tegmark and MinutePhysics on the mathematical universe →

What is mathematics about? – James Franklin – Aeon

James Franklin has an interesting piece today at Aeon, asking what exactly mathematics is.  He looks at Nominalism and Platonism, but discounts both in favor of Aristotelian Realism, which is something I'd not heard of before but seems equivalent to the idea that mathematics is empirical. What is mathematics about? We know what biology is about; … Continue reading What is mathematics about? – James Franklin – Aeon →

Who’s afraid of math? Study finds some genetic factors

As someone who's never been good at math, I found this particularly interesting.  It's strange that I've always been in the top tier of programmers on any team I worked on, easily gotten As in any programming class I took, and that programmers as a general breed tend to be good at math, but I've … Continue reading Who’s afraid of math? Study finds some genetic factors →

Why a Larger Multiverse Shouldn’t Make You Feel Small | Max Tegmark

The Higgs Boson was predicted with the same tool as the planet Neptune and the radio wave: with mathematics. Why does our universe seem so mathematical, and what does it mean? In my new book, Our Mathematical Universe, which comes out today, I argue that it means that our universe isn't just described by math, … Continue reading Why a Larger Multiverse Shouldn’t Make You Feel Small | Max Tegmark →