Mathematics

What the chicken game teaches us about the fiscal cliff

16 Dec 2012

Is the United States about to leap off its "fiscal cliff" and drag the rest of us into the economic abyss? Game theory tells us that this is not likely.

Mathematician claims to have proved the 'abc conjecture'

23 Sep 2012

This summer, the international mathematical community was abuzz with rumours that a proof of the famous "abc conjecture", a key problem in number theory, had been found.

Is maths necessary? Well, up to a point

2 Aug 2012

'Is algebra necessary?' That is the title of one of the most-read opinion pieces written by a political science professor in The New York Times this week.

Rise of the robot journalist

20 Jul 2012

Next week, after the London Olympics have begun, you will read stories about athletes pushing human physiology to new limits. What you may not realise, however, is that many of these stories may...

Cracks in the code: Encryption may be flimsy armour

1 Jul 2012

You're putting in your credit card details to make an online purchase. As you type in your card number, you feel slightly uneasy about sending it into cyberspace.

Opinion

Jake Van Der Kamp

An age-old problem and the sums that just don't add up

Howard Winn

HSBC suffers the Taibbi treatment in Rolling Stone

Shirley Yam

How tycoons' IPO 'losses' may hide profits at herd's expense

We've got your number

If a three doesn't work, try a two. If that doesn't work either, erase it and start all over again. The secret is to always use a pencil because it is easy to correct if you make a mistake - let's...

Numbers

This is a stick up

Boree and FashionTV put their feet together to launch hot summer flip flops on a chilly night

At shoe brand Boree's launch in dragon-i, some notable names from the fashion industry tried to heat things up on a freezing night.

Memory game too boring to inspire anything other than forgetfulness

Memory Matrix
From 99 US cents
Rating 3/10

Algebra, symbol of the West's success

The history and philosophy of science is an unusually dull and unpromising discipline. Yet it managed to produce at least two illuminati in the last century: Karl Popper and Thomas Kuhn.

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Lesson for parents on fast-track kids

The competitive schooling system in Hong Kong has made getting children into the best schools the dream of many parents. To stay ahead of others, emphasis is often skewed towards academic...