Math Digest

2003 Articles

December 2003

• "Earth and Mars share a clock in the sky," The Christian Science Moinitor, 30 December 2003
• Reviews of the novel Shooting the Sun, by Max Byrd, 28 and 30 December 2003
• "Bookish Math," Science News, 20 and 27 December, 2003
• "Quadramagicology," New Scientist, 20/27 December 2003
• "Go figure": Review The Millennium Problems, by Keith Devlin, New Scientist, 20/27 December 2003
• "1904 and all that,"Nature, 18/25 December 2003
• "Aromatics do the twist," Nature, 18/25 December 2003
• "Randomness in Quantum Computation," Science, 19 December 2003
• "World's most mysterious book may be a hoax," Nature Science Update, 17 December 2003
• "Mathematics could stabilize peace treaties," Nature Science Update, 16 December 2003
• "Hit Song Science," The New York Times Magazine, 14 December 2003
• "Mystery remains as journal withdraws paper," Nature, 11 December 2003
• "Maths institute planned to meet multiplying demand," Nature, 11 December 2003
• "Mathematicians get fresh formula for web searches," Nature, 11 December 2003
• "Lying Brain Teasers: Politicians, Liars and Mathematical Puzzles," abcnews.com, 7 December 2003
• "In Archimedes' Puzzle, a New Eureka Moment," New York Times, 14 December 2003; "Problem Solved,"Science, 5 December 2003

November 2003

• "Synchrony and Simultaneity": A Review of Einstein's Clocks, Poincaré's Maps, by Peter Galison, American Scientist, November-December 2003
• "A Lucid Interval," American Scientist, November-December 2003
• "Making Waves," New Scientist, 29 November 2003
• "Malaysian politics according to a mathematician," MalaysiaKini.com, 28 November 2003
• "Primal dream," an interview with Marcus du Sautoy, New Scientist, 26 November 2003
• "From Bourbon to Binary," New Scientist, 22 November 2003
• "Leaves by number," Nature, 20 November 2003
• "Luminet's illuminations," Nature, 20 November 2003
• "A beautiful find," Charlotte Observer, 16 November 2003
• "It's not who you know...it's who the people you know know," New Scientist, 15 November 2003
• "Virtual voters pick best teams," Nature Science Update, 14 November 2003;
  "Monkeys Would Fare as Well as BCS in Picking Best Football Teams, Math Student Finds," The Chronicle of Higher Education, 29 November 2003
• "Brain furrow may cause maths problem," Nature Science Update, 13 November 2003
• "Discover's Guide to the Greatest Science Gifts," Discovermagazine.com, 12 November 2003
• "Interview with the World Bank's New Chief Economist," The World Bank Group, DevMedia Center, 12 November 2003
• "Passion for speed keeps Roush in NASCAR race," USA Today, 6 November 2003
• "Entertaining Mr. Chicken": Review of Everything and More, by David Foster Wallace, New Scientist, 5 November 2003
• "The Future of String Theory: A Conversation with Brian Greene," Scientific American, November 2003

October 2003

• "Math Megalibrary," Science, 24 October 2003
• "Physics Forged in the Tripos": Review of Masters of Theory: Cambridge and the Rise of Mathematical Physics, by Andrew Warwick, Science, 24 October 2003
• "From here to infinity: Germs, math, and the beauty of discovery": A review of Everything and More: A Compact History of Infinity, by David Foster Wallace, Boston Sunday Globe, 19 October 2003
• "Outstanding in his field": Review of The Man Who Changed Everything: The Life of James Clerk Maxwell, by Basil Mahon, Nature, 23 October 2003
• ""True love, virtual sex": Review of Turing: A Nove about Computation, by Christos Papadimitriou, New Scientist, 18 October 2003
• "Keep on Tracking" Review of two books on infinity, The Guardian, 18 October 2003
• "Numbers Crunched While You Wait," Science, 17 October 2003
• "Economics prize for duo who resolved random results," Nature, 16 October 2003
• "Does the Universe Go on Forever?" New Scientist, 11 October 2003
• "How the Species Became," New Scientist, 11 October 2003
• "Homegrown" Science, 10 October 2003
• "Prime time for mathematics": A review of Prime Obsession by John Derbyshire, and the Music of the Primes by Marcus du Sautoy, Nature, 9 October 2003
• "Prime Time for the Riemann Hypothesis": Review of Prime Obsession: Bernhard Riemann and the Greatest Unsolved Problem in Mathematics by John Derbyshire, Science, 3 October 2003
• "This headline is (half) false," The Economist, October 2003
• "Real Genius," Boston Magazine, October 2003
• "Brother, Can You Spare 18 Cents?," Discover October 2003

September 2003

• "In Search of the Optimal Scumsucking Bottomfeeder," American Scientist, September-October 2003
• "Rubik's Rubrics": Review of Adventures in Group Theory: Rubik's Cube, Merlin's Machine, and Other Mathematical Toys, by David Joyner, American Scientist, September-October 2003
• "Impossibilities: Review of Abel's Proof: An Essay on the Sources and Meaning of Mathematical Unsolvability, by Peter Pesic, American Scientist, September-October 2003
• "Infinite Secrets," a television program produced for NOVA, airing on PBS, originally broadcast 20 September 2003
• "The Short List: Pressing Issues in Academe," The Chronicle of Higher Education, 19 September 2003
• "Passing Messages Between Disciplines," Science, 19 September 2003
• "African institute ready for meeting of mathematical minds," Nature, 18 September 2003
• "Possible or probable?," Nature, 18 September 2003
• "Partial reflection": Review of Science in the Looking Glass, by E. Brian Davies, New Scientist, 13 September 2003
• "Esoteric theorist lands starring role in Senate hearing," by Nature, 11 September 2003
• Reviews of Kepler's Conjecture: How Some of the Greatest Minds in History Helped Solve One of the Oldest Math Problems in the World by George G. Szpiro:
  "The proof of packing", Nature, 11 September 2003
  "To Prove the Optimal Packing," Science, 29 August 2003
  "The 24-dimensional greengrocer" Nature, 21 August 2003
  "Does the proof stack up?", Nature, 3 July 2003
  
• "A Polemic on Probability": A review of Probability Theory: The Logic of Science, by E.T. Jaynes, Science, 5 September 2003
• "AAAS Statisticians Estimate Deaths from Conflict in Peru," Science, 29 August 2003;
  "Statistical model leaves Peru counting the cost of civil war," Nature, 4 September 2003
• "Girls Are Better at Math, But ...," Discover, September 2003
• "PopSci's vBrilliant 10," Popular Science, September 2003

August 2003

• "Chaos: Useful at Last?" Science, 29 August 2003
• "Quick and Dirty Refereeing?" Science, 29 August 2003
• "All about Isaac": Review of Newton's Apple, by Peter Aughton, New Scientist, 23 August 2003
• "In Search of a Scientific Revolution," Science News, 16 August 2003
• "Small World After All," Science News, 16 August 2003
  "Ignorance, Knowledge, and Outcomes in a Small World," Science, 8 August 2003
  "With E-Mail, It's Not Easy to Navigate 6 Degrees of Separation," The New York Times, 12 August 2003
  "More than six degrees separate us," Nature Science Update, 8 August 2003
• "Mr. Babbage and the Buskers," New Scientist, 16 August 2003
• "Was Newton a Newtonian?": Review of Isaac Newton by James Gleick, Science, 15 August 2003
• Review of The Book of My Life, by Girolam Cardano, New Scientist, 9 August 2003
• "Vital Statistics," Nature, 7 August 2003
• "Fast Findings on Fluid Frenzy," Science News, 2 August 2003
  "Getting a Grip on Turbulence," Science, 1 August 2003
• "Slide Rules: The First Nerd Tool," Discover, August 2003

July 2003

• "Indivisible Man": A review of books about the Riemann Hypothesis, American Scientist, July-August 2003
• "Map Quest": A review of Four Colors Suffice: How the Map Problem Was Solved, by Robin Wilson, American Scientist, July-August 2003
• "Making Connections": A review of Six Degrees: The Science of a Connected Age, by Duncan J. Watts, American Scientist, July-August 2003
• "The Spectrum of Riemannium," American Scientist, July/August 2003
• "Bring on the Problems? It Must be Math Camp," The New York Times, 30 July 2003
• "New kind of auction balances supply, demand and complex bidding strategies," Nature Science Update, 30 July 2003
• "Dying Mathematician Spends Last Days on Area of Polygon," The Wall Street Journal, 29 July 2003
• Review of Gamma: Exploring Euler's Constant, by Julian Havil, New Scientist, 19 July 2003
• "Taming Nature's Numbers," New Scientist, 19 July 2003
• Review of Isaac Newton, by James Gleick, New Scientist, 19 July 2003
• "Strength in Numbers," The Chronicle of Higher Education, 18 July 2003

June 2003

• Reviews of A Mathematician Plays the Stock Market by John Allen Paulos, June-July 2003
• "A Mathematician Crunches the Supreme Court's Numbers," The New York Times, 24 June 2003
• "Mathematicians primed to prove twin theory Pride, cash at stake in solutions," San Francisco Chronicle, 16 June 2003
• "If it looks like a sphere...," Science News, 14 June 2003
• "The Witch of Agnesi," New Scientist, 14 June 2003
• "Cracking the Khipu Code," Science, 13 June 2003;
  "Researcher sees strands of ancient secrets," The Boston Globe, 4 July 2003;
  "Decoding The Secrets Of The Incas," Associated Press, CBSNews.com, 2 December 2003
• "Will Abel prize for maths rival the Nobels?," New Scientist, 7 June 2003
• "A Game of Chance," New Scientist, 7 June 2003
• "Neural Foundations of Logical and Mathematical Cognition," Nature Reviews Neuroscience, June 2003
• Mathematical sidebars in Discover, June 2003

May 2003

• "Scientists Prove Kansas Flatter than a Pancake," Annals of Improbable Research, May-June 2003
• "Paradoxes in Paradise": Review of The Search for Certainty: A Philosophical Account of Foundations of Mathematics, by Marcus Giaquinto, American Scientist, May-June 2003
• Review of Hinged Dissections: Swinging and Twisting by Greg N. Frederickson, American Scientist, May-June 2003
• Review of Geometrical Landscapes: The Voyages of Discovery and the Transformation of Mathematical Practice, by Amir R. Alexander, American Scientist, May-June 2003
• "Don't let the numbers get you down": Review of What the Numbers Say, by Derrick Niederman and David Boyum, New Scientist, 31 May 2003
• "Copied citations give impact factors a boost," Nature, 22 May 2003
• "Rope trick calculated," Nature Science Update, 21 May 2003
• "Some numbers you can't count on": Review of Imagining Numbers, by Barry Mazur,The Observer, 18 May 2003
• "How mathematical beauty surfaces in art," New Scientist, 10 May 2003
• "Making Wavelets," Science, 9 May 2003
• "Amber Alert Saves Girl," CBS Evening News, 8 May 2003
• "Beauty is in the Wallet of the Beholder," abcnews.com, 4 May 2003
• "Mathematical model reveals best auction strategy," New Scientist, 3 May 2003
• "Free Journal Finder," Science, 3 May 2003
• "The Science of Origami," Science, 3 May 2003
• "A Digital Slice of Pi," Scientific American, May 2003
• "Scale-Free Networks," Scientific American, May 2003
• Review of three books about the Riemann Hypothesis, Scientific American, May 2003
• "Stats Geek at Bat," Popular Science, May 2003
• "The Grade A, Number 1 Prime Puzzle of Math," Popular Science, May 2003

April 2003

• Articles on the attempt to prove the Poincaré Conjecture, April 2003
• Articles about first Abel Prize of US$825,000 Awarded to Jean-Pierre Serre, April 2003
• "Every Unhappy Family Has Its Own Bilinear Influence Function," The Chronicle of Higher Education, 25 April 2003
• "A vision for the future of genomics research," Nature, 24 April 2003
• "World Trade Centre forensics break new ground," Nature Science Update, 23 April 2003
• "Satisfying a Zeta Jones," The Village Voice, 16-22 April 2003
• "Powers to the people": Interview with Robert Moses, New Scientist, 19 April 2003
• "Group minds": Review of The One True Platonic Heaven, by John L. Casti, New Scientist, 19 April 2003
• "Understanding a Professor and a Revolutionary," The Chronicle of Higher Education, 18 April 2003
• "Researchers Building Math Model of SARS," The Washington Post, 16 April 2003
• "Counting on creativity," Providence Journal, 10 April 2003
• "The impossible puzzle," New Scientist, 5 April 2003
• "Yeeeeeeeeeer Out!" Science, 4 April 2003
• "All Together Now: Clap": Review of Sync by Steven Strogatz and Six Degrees by Duncan J. Watts, Discover, April 2003
• "The Hound of the Data Points," Popular Science, April 2003
• "Black History Month 2003 Timeline," NPR website, April 2003

March 2003

• Stories about the Goldston-Yildirim work on spacings of prime numbers, March 2003.
• "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?": Review of The Millennium Problems: The Seven Greatest Unsolved Mathematical Mysteries of Our Time, by Keith Devlin, American Scientist, March-April 2003
• "On the Complex Plane": Review of Indra's Pearls: The Vision of Felix Klein, by David Mumford, Caroline Series, and David Wright, American Scientist, March-April 2003
• "A Bright Future for Biologists and Mathematicians?" Science, 28 March 2003
• "Flu evolution modeled," Nature Science Update, 27 March 2003
• "Synchronization from chaos," Nature, 27 March 2003
• "Galileo points the way," Nature, 27 March 2003
• "The big catch," New Scientist, 22 March 2003
• "Cracking puzzles": Review of Mathematical Miniatures, by Svetoslav Savchev and Titu Andreescu, New Scientist, 22 March 2003
• "E-mail reveals real leaders," Nature Science Update, 20 March 2003
• "Scholars and Groups Receive Presidential Awards as Mentors in the Sciences," The Chronicle of Higher Education, 18 March 2003
• "Think of a...": Review of Imagining Numbers, by Barry Mazur, New Scientist, 15 March 2003
• "Science Flair," Science News, 15 March 2003
• "How Beef-Hungry Voters Can Get Tofu for President," The Wall Street Journal, 14 March 2003
• "Primed to go: Mathematicians are discussing ways to make code-breaking easier," The Economist, 27 March 2003; "Fear of factors: Cracking prime-number case raises online security doubts," International Herald Tribune, 10 March 2003.
• "Hypatia," New Scientist, 8 March 2003
• "Reflections of Reflections Without End": Review of Indra's Pearls: The Vision of Felix Klein, by David Mumford, Caroline Series, and David Wright, Science, 7 March 2003
• "Stacking Up the Evidence," Science, 7 March 2003
• Commentaries on the war in Iraq by mathematician John Allen Paulos, abcnews.com, March 2003
• "The Bidding Game," Beyond Discovery, March 2003

February 2003

• "Ethnomathematics," New York Times Magazine, 23 February 2003
• "Knotty Calculations," Science News, 22 February 2003
• "All together now," Nature, 20 February 2003
• "Math Class." NetWatch, Science, 14 February 2003
• "Columbia Disaster Underscores The Risky Nature of Risk Analysis," Science, 14 February 2003
• "Symbol of Perfect Proportion": Review of The Golden Ratio: The Story of Phi, the World's Most Astonishing Number by Mario Livio, Science, 14 February 2003
• "The Code War," Beyond Discovery, 12 February 2003
• "Numbers crunched": Review of Mathematics: A very short introduction, by Timothy Gowers, New Scientist, 8 February 2003
• "Light in the darkness": Review of Sync: The emerging science of spontaneous order, by Steven Strogatz, New Scientist, 8 February 2003
• "Full Steam Ahead--Probably," Science, 7 February 2003
• Review of A Shortcut Through Time: The Path to the Quantum Computer, by George Johnson, Scientific American, February 2003

January 2003

• "Flying and Driving after the September 11 Attacks," American Scientist, January-February 2003
• "On the Threshold," American Scientist, January-February 2003
• "Meeting: Joint Mathematics Meetings," Science, 31 January 2003
• "At top speed." Random Samples, Science, 31 January 2003
• "Mathematicians Find Problems With New System for Scoring Figure Skating," The Chronicle of Higher Education, 31 January 2003
• "A knotty story": Review of Knots: Mathematics with a Twist, by Alexei Sossinsky, Nature, 30 January 2003
• Two articles about the book Six Degrees, by Duncan Watts: New York Times, 25 January 2003, and New Scientist 25 January 2003
• "Cancer summed up," Nature, 23 January 2003
• "Out of the fold": Interview with Erik Demaine, New Scientist, 18 January 2003
• "Fold here first," New Scientist, 18 January 2003
• "Mathematicians find path less traveled," Nature Science Update, 14 January 2003
• Letters about article on elections, Science News, 11 January 2003
• "New Look at Old Data Irks Smallpox-Eradication Experts," Science, 10 January 2002
• "50 years ago," column in Nature, 9 January 2003
• "Math's Wild-And-Crazy Guy," The Washington Post, 6 January 2003
• "Future World: Privacy, Terrorists, and Science Fiction," ABCnews.com Who's Counting Column, 5 January 2003
• "Puzzle primes": Review of Dr. Riemann's Zeros, by Karl Sabbagh, New Scientist, 4 January 2003
• "Some things never change": Review of Discovery of Cosmic Fractals, by Yurij Baryshev and Pekka Teerikorpi, New Scientist, 4 January 2003
• "Euler vindicated after 250 years," New Scientist, 4 January 2003
• "It's a kind of magic," New Scientist, 4 January 2003
• "Arthur T. Winfree (1942-2002)," Nature, 2 January 2003
• "A tangled problem," Nature, 2 January 2003
• "The Mathematics of Artificial Speech," Discover, January 2003
• "Test for Primes Menaces Internet," Discover, January 2003

Click here for a list of links to web pages of publications covered in the Digest.