mathematics

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Study Finds Steep Decline in US Students' Math Skills

But elementary school students were still slightly above average in study of 58 countries

(Newser) - American elementary school students aren't terrible at math—in a study of students in 58 countries, they were somewhere in the middle of the pack—but officials are alarmed by a steep decline in their skills in recent years. The latest Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study, which...

10-Year-Old Calls 911 With Math Emergency

First responders help with homework assignment

(Newser) - "Hey, it's not really an emergency," a 10-year-old Wisconsin caller said after dialing 911. But he needed help on what he said was an eighth grade-level math problem. "I'm sorry to waste your time." The boy apparently didn't know where to turn. "...

Chinese Student Lauded as 'Genius' Was Really a Cheater

Fashion student Jiang Ping was not what she seemed, contest organizers say

(Newser) - A 17-year-old Chinese girl celebrated as a genius after scoring high in the preliminary round of an international math contest turns out to have cheated. Jiang Ping became an overnight sensation in June after finishing 12th out of 802 shortlisted competitors in the qualifiers of the Alibaba Global Mathematics Competition,...

Teens Publish Math Finding Once Thought to Be Impossible
Teens' Math Finding Was Once
Thought to Be Impossible
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Nov 3, 2024 7:03 AM CST

Teens' Math Finding Was Once Thought to Be Impossible

They've discovered multiple trigonometric proofs of Pythagorean theorem

(Newser) - Two young women from New Orleans who amazed mathematicians two years ago by coming up with a new trigonometric proof of the 2,000-year-old Pythagorean theorem have repeated the feat multiple times. A peer-reviewed paper from Ne'Kiya Jackson and Calcea Johnson published in the American Mathematical Monthly Journal outlines...

Former Nvidia Worker Makes Big Mathematical Find

Luke Durant says search for largest prime number shows GPUs can be used for more than AI

(Newser) - A researcher who used to work as a programmer for Nvidia has found the largest known prime number—and if he printed it out, it would be as long as 26 Bibles. The number—2 to the 136,279,841st power minus 1—contains 41,024,320 decimal digits, beating...

Barkley Rewards School After Pythagorean Theorem Victory

Two New Orleans students joined mathematics record book

(Newser) - Charles Barkley was as impressed as anybody that two high school seniors in Louisiana became the second and third people in the 2,000-year history of the Pythagorean theorem to solve it using trigonometry. So after seeing their story on CBS' 60 Minutes in May, the basketball great promised to...

Math Historian Saw Decimals in 1440s Treatise and Freaked Out

Glen Van Brummelen uncovers earliest known use of decimal to indicate base-10 number system

(Newser) - How old is the decimal? It's a question you've probably never pondered but one that has fascinated certain historians. Fascinated isn't overstating it. When Glen Van Brummelen, a historian of mathematics at Canada's Trinity Western University, spotted a decimal used to indicate tenths of a number...

After Test Results, Ed Secretary Calls for 'Math Revolution'

PISA results show 33% of US students lack basic math proficiency

(Newser) - The first assessment of global achievement in math since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic reveals further evidence of what some are calling a "crisis" in US education. The average math score for American students taking part in Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) exams fell to 465 out...

Math Problem Cracked After 90 Years

Mathematicians solved a 'Ramsey' graph problem that's baffled many for decades

(Newser) - Unless you dabble in advanced math, r(4,t) probably doesn't mean much to you. But to the delight of mathematicians across the globe, researchers cracked this "Ramsey problem," which has baffled great minds for decades. Phys.org reports that the findings of University of California San Diego...

Schools Screen for Dyslexia. 'Dyscalculia,' Not So Much

Hundreds of thousands of students have learning disabilities that make math harder

(Newser) - Nationwide, hundreds of thousands of students face challenges learning math due to disabilities like dyscalculia, a neurodevelopmental learning disorder caused by differences in parts of the brain that are involved with numbers and calculations. There are often obstacles to getting help, and America's schools have long struggled to identify...

Today's College Freshmen Are 'Almost Damaged'

Instructors raise the alarm about math deficiencies, blame the pandemic

(Newser) - College students across the country are grappling with a fundamental problem as they arrive on campus—basic math. At many universities, engineering and biology majors are struggling to grasp fractions and exponents. More students are being placed into pre-college math, starting a semester or more behind for their majors. As...

Combining Math, Music Study Boost Student Test Scores

A half century of research went into drawing this conclusion

(Newser) - Jazz great Duke Ellington once said music "is as modern as tomorrow" and "endless as ... mathematics." Scientists who combed through 50 years of research might tell the Duke he was onto something. While past research had noted the connection between musical inclination and math ability, a new...

Pi Gets the Glory. What About Feigenbaum's Constant Delta?

On Pi Day, math professor suggests other numbers we might celebrate

(Newser) - Pi Day is upon us again—March 14, aka 3/14, aka the first three numbers in the famous mathematical constant. Here is a look at what celebrants need to know and eat:
  • Fitting tribute: There is lots of talk about delicious pies on this day, but University of Maryland math
...

Test Scores for US Students Are 'Appalling'
Test Scores for US
Students Are 'Appalling'
the rundown
Oct 24, 2022 11:05 AM CDT

Test Scores for US Students Are 'Appalling'

Drops recorded in math and reading, and the pandemic is blamed

(Newser) - A federal assessment of US students known as the "nation's report card" is out, and the results are pretty bleak. Scores are down in reading and math—especially math—across the country, with the pandemic blamed for wreaking havoc on education. Details:
  • The test: The National Assessment of
...

Just One Teen on the Planet Aced This Test

Felix Zhang of Indiana apparently knows his calculus

(Newser) - On planet Earth, some 270,000 students took the AP Calculus AB exam in May 2022. About 20% of them scored a 5, which is the highest score possible. But Felix Zhang did something no one else did: The Indiana high schooler got a perfect score. Then a sophomore at...

'Nation's Report Card' Offers 'Sobering' Pandemic Update

Kids' math, reading scores took an unprecedented hit over the past 2 years

(Newser) - It's undisputed that kids had a rough time of it during the pandemic. Now, results from national tests show just how rough, at least in terms of how their academic skills have suffered. The "nation's report card"—ie, the National Assessment of Educational Progress—was released...

Mathematician Snags Richest Prize for His 'Alien' Equations

Martin Hairer among those to get $3M a 'Breakthrough' award

(Newser) - A researcher once said that a theory related to a branch of math dealing with random processes was so impressive, it must have come from aliens . It was actually the work of Martin Hairer, who has now been awarded the richest prize in academia, reports the Guardian . Hairer was named...

Tribune Wrote About Jeopardy! Whiz ... When He Was 4

Paper digs up article on James Holzhauer

(Newser) - Long before he was racking up win after win —and oodles of cash—on Jeopardy!, James Holzhauer was impressing an entirely different demographic: his preschool teachers. The Chicago Tribune has unearthed an article that appeared in its pages in January 1989, when Holzhauer was just 4 years old and...

A Cubed Number Puzzle Is Solved. Only One Is Left

UK's Andrew Booker figures out which three cubed numbers add up to 33

(Newser) - For more than half a century, modern mathematicians have been trying to crack two stubborn numbers problems—and a UK professor just solved one of them. As Live Science explains, the problem itself seems fairly straight-forward: Which three cubed numbers add up to 33? The University of Bristol's Andrew...

First Woman Ever Wins Math's Version of the 'Nobel Prize'

Karen Keskulla Uhlenbeck of the University of Texas at Austin is honored

(Newser) - For the first time ever, a woman has won the Abel Prize, which the Guardian calls one of the most prestigious international mathematics awards. In fact, there is no Nobel Prize for math , and the Abel Prize is seen by some as the equivalent of the Nobel. Karen Keskulla Uhlenbeck...

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