Imagine a book arrives by post, packed in a cardboard box. Can you read the book without opening the box? Thanks to advanced technology, to AI and to the power of mathematics, the challenge can be answered. These techniques are allowing us to read the blackened remnants of some ancient documents [TM286 or search for “thatsmaths” … Continue reading Scientists decipher charred ancient scrolls
Tag: Philosophy
Topsy-turvy Maths: Proving Axioms from Theorems
Mathematics is distinguished from the sciences by the freedom it enjoys in choosing basic assumptions from which consequences can be deduced by applying the laws of logic. We call the basic assumptions axioms and the consequent results theorems. But can things be done the other way around, using theorems to prove axioms? This is a … Continue reading Topsy-turvy Maths: Proving Axioms from Theorems
Mathematics and the Nature of Physical Reality
Applied mathematics is the use of maths to address questions and solve problems outside maths itself. Counting money, designing rockets and vaccines, analysing internet traffic and predicting the weather all involve maths. But why does this work? Why is maths so successful in describing physical reality? How is it that the world can be understood … Continue reading Mathematics and the Nature of Physical Reality
