Researchers have built a breakthrough random number generator that solves a critical problem: for the first time, every step of creating random numbers can be independently verified and audited, with quantum physics guaranteeing the numbers were truly …

A mathematician on Reddit calculated that if all 8.2 billion humans were blended into a uniform goo, the resulting meatball would form a sphere just under 1 kilometer wide — small enough to fit inside Central Park. ScienceAlert reports: “If you blende…

A new DARPA project called expMath “aims to jumpstart math innovation with the help of AI,” writes The Register. America’s “Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency” believes mathematics isn’t advancing fast enough, according to their article…

So t…

“Can you help me take down the Texas lottery?”
That’s what a London banker-turned-bookmaker asked “acquaintances” in 2023, reports the Wall Street Journal. The plan was to buy “nearly every possible number in a coming drawing” — purchasing $1 ti…

Abstract of a paper on NBER: There is much disagreement about the extent to which financial incentives motivate study participants. We elicit preferences for being paid for completing a survey, including a one-in-twenty chance of winning a $100 electro…

JPMorgan Chase used a quantum computer from Honeywell’s Quantinuum to generate and mathematically certify truly random numbers — an advancement that could significantly enhance encryption, security, and financial applications. The breakthrough was val…

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Gizmodo: Fourteen-year-old Aaryan Shukla cruised through six mental math calculation world records in a single day, according to a Guinness World Records statement published on February 12, earning the well-dese…

After a 6-1 vote by the district board, San Francisco middle schools will teach Algebra I again this fall. Axios reports: Roughly a third of SFUSD middle schools this fall will begin offering the course to eighth graders at about a third of its 13 midd…

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: [R]esearchers from the University of Tubingen found for the first time that crows can perform statistical reasoning. These results can help scientists better understand the evolution of intelligenc…

A recently released research reveals a fundamental challenge of developing artificial intelligence: ChatGPT has become worse at performing certain basic math operations. From a report: The researchers at Stanford University and the University of Califo…