Interview with a mathematician: Richard J. Nowakowski
In the first of what I hope is an ongoing series of interviews with fellow mathematicians, here is my conversation with Richard J. Nowakowski. We sometimes just call him RJN for short. Richard works on graph theory and combinatorial game theory at Dalhousie University, where he is a University Research Professor. He completed his M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees under […]
Breakthrough in Ramsey theory
Breakthrough! Progress in mathematics is often slow and difficult, and breakthroughs in even minor seeming problems can take years. Results in my field may require new tools, new inspiration, or new computational power to achieve. Sometimes it takes all of these to push the subject forward. Last week, it was announced in a paper posted on arXiv…
Graph isomorphism and Babai’s proof
How do we know two objects are the same? This is a loaded question, as there is ambiguity about what “the same” precisely means. In the real world, we rely on subtle cues to determine if objects are different. Even an untrained eye can view the Mona Lisa’s in the featured image of this blog…
Our networked world
More than numbers Numbers are one way we measure the world. From the negative temperatures on a thermometer, to our bank account balances precise to the nearest cent, or to the number of followers we have on Twitter, we use numbers routinely in our everyday lives. Our early education reflects the importance of numbers, and…