Arizona State University: Do the math: ChatGPT sometimes can’t, expert says. “In a paper that was accepted to the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence for its spring symposium, [Professor Paulo] Shakarian detailed results of a study in which he tested ChatGPT on 1,000 mathematical word problems.”
Wall Street Journal: ChatGPT Needs Some Help With Math Assignments . “If you ask ChatGPT who is taller, Shaquille O’Neal or Yao Ming, the bot accurately says Yao is 7’6” and O’Neal is 7’1” but then concludes that Shaq is taller. The bot miscalculates the square roots of large numbers. Ask it to show its math, and it often produces detailed formulas that look great but contain errors, such as 2 x 300 = 500.”
Internet Archive Blog: A Calculated Move: Calculators Now Emulated at Internet Archive. “While we have an excellent family of emulators assisting MAME in making programs work in the browser, the vast majority of the items in our Internet Arcade (and Turbo Edition), Console Living Room, and Handheld History collections mostly have MAME to thank. And now another can as well: The Calculator Drawer.”
New York Times: They’re Taking Jigsaws to Infinity and Beyond. “Ms. Rosenkrantz and Mr. Louis-Rosenberg are algorithmic artists who make laser-cut wooden jigsaw puzzles — among other curios — at their design studio, Nervous System, in Palenville, N.Y. Inspired by how shapes and forms emerge in nature, they write custom software to ‘grow’ intertwining puzzle pieces. Their signature puzzle cuts have names like dendrite, amoeba, maze and wave.”
Wolfram Blog: Learn Algebra from the Ground Up with Wolfram Language. “This course introduces students to basic algebraic terminology and rules, then uses these ideas to explore everything from linear equations to systems of inequalities to quadratic equations. Along the way, powerful Wolfram Language functions are used to verify, simplify and visualize all subjects of discussion.”
Government Technology: Digitized Kaktovik Numerals Engage Native American Students. “The international encoding standard Unicode has included Kaktovik numerals, designed by Iñupiaq students almost 30 years ago, in its latest version. Teachers in Alaska say it has spurred an interest in math.”
Caltech: Caltech Mathematicians Solve 19th Century Number Riddle. “For the past 175 years, a perplexing feature of numbers first stumbled upon by German mathematician Ernst Kummer has confounded researchers. At one point in the 1950s, this quirky feature of number theory was thought to have been wrong, but then, decades later, mathematicians found hints that it was in fact true. Now, after several twists and turns, two Caltech mathematicians have at last found proof that Kummer was right all along.”
Ars Technica: DeepMind breaks 50-year math record using AI; new record falls a week later. “Matrix multiplication is at the heart of many machine learning breakthroughs, and it just got faster—twice. Last week, DeepMind announced it discovered a more efficient way to perform matrix multiplication, conquering a 50-year-old record. This week, two Austrian researchers at Johannes Kepler University Linz claim they have bested that new record by one step.”
Brussels Times: New research could cut number of animals needed for laboratory research. “A PhD student at the Brussels VUB university has found that fewer laboratory animals would be needed for research projects if mathematical calculations were used to improve the analysis of results. This would bring down costs and spare animal lives.”
Mainichi: Unique 2-in-1 calculator app adds up to surprise hit for retired engineer in Japan . “The double calculator app allows users to move the computation results of one calculator onto the other by tapping arrow keys displayed on the middle of the screen. For example, if a user calculates ’89 x 15 = 1335′ on one calculator and taps the arrow key, the result ‘1335’ will be displayed on the other calculator, allowing the user to continue a problem while the previous equations are still shown on the screen. This makes it easy to notice errors. It is also possible to perform different computations on each calculator.”
Wolfram|Alpha: Wolfram|Alpha, iOS and Math OCR. “Wolfram|Alpha for iOS is now available for free. The free app has all of the features from the previous paid app, minus basic step-by-step solutions, plus a few new features available with an active Wolfram|Alpha Pro subscription, including math optical character recognition (OCR) and the assistant apps previously available as separate apps.”
Wolfram: Wolfram|Alpha Pro Teaches Step-by-Step Arithmetic for All Grade Levels. “Now, Wolfram|Alpha Pro returns step-by-step solutions for long addition, subtraction, multiplication and division problems, including ones involving decimals or negative numbers. We have also developed detailed step-by-step solutions for long division of whole numbers and negative numbers as well as—for the high-school level—multiplication and division of polynomials.”
KnowTechie: Duolingo will now teach you elementary-level math. “Duolingo is expected to launch its flagship math (or maths, depending on what side of the Atlantic you live on) course today. Duolingo Math is a dedicated app for iOS and iPadOS. It re-uses the company’s gamification mechanics to teach third-grade maths.”
Los Alamos National Laboratory: Math error: A new study overturns 100-year-old understanding of color perception. “A paradigm shift away from the 3D mathematical description developed by Schrödinger and others to describe how we see color could yield more vibrant computer displays, TVs, printed materials, textiles and more.”
UChicago News: New startup offers students free online tools to learn math. “Through the startup’s free, ad-supported web-based tool, students can learn concepts, solve problems, check their work, and collaborate with teachers and classmates—all digitally.”
The ResearchBuzz Firehose is regular RB content presented as individual posts.
For digest-type posts a couple of times a day, please visit ResearchBuzz.
Want to know how to best use the Firehose for content discovery?
Check out this handy article.