Communications of the ACM
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How the “Frontier” Became the Slogan of Uncontrolled AI
Artificial intelligence (AI) has been billed as the next frontier of humanity: the newly available expanse whose exploration …
From Computational Complexity
Global Warming and the Axiom of Choice
Who was the first scientist to warn of Global Warning? These questions are complicated, but I would say it was Bing Crosby in a paper called White Christmas. Here...
From Computational Complexity
The Institute for proving Graph Isomorphism is in P
(This post was inspired by Adam Winklers awesome book Gunfight: The Battle over the Right to Bear Arms in America. Disclaimers one: Adam Winkler is my cousin and...
From Computational Complexity
Four answers to the Recip problem
In my last post I asked you to solve the following question which was from the Maryland Math Competition: The inequalities 1/2 + 1/3 + 1/6 = 1 and 1/2 + 1/3 +...
From Computational Complexity
A problem on Receiprocals
(I thought I had posted this a while back but I can't find it in past blogs so I think I did not. I DID post a diff problem on reciprocals.) Here is the question...
From Computational Complexity
My Pope Number is 2: The Smaller World Hypothesis
I proofread Piergiogrio Odilfreddi's book (which is on Lance's List of Favorite Complexity Books) for which I got a generous acknowledgment. I have also visited...
From Computational Complexity
University of Maryland Job Posting Mentions Quantum Computing explicitly!
The University of Maryland at College Park has its job posting up (its been up for a while). You can look at it here. I It lists THREE areas but says that they...
From Computational Complexity
Teaching without a net
As a grad student I was teaching the linear-time Median finding algorithm and I FORGOT that I needed to solve the more general problem of selection. After less...
From Computational Complexity
Who controls what is taught- the dept or the students?
There is a debate about the questions: To what extent do we give them what they NEED? what they WANT? These questions permeate many other discussions of education...
From Computational Complexity
P vs NP is Elementary? No-- P vs NP is ON Elementary
As I am sure you all know, the TV show Elementary (Premise- Sherlock Homes in Modern Day NY. He emails and Texts! Watson is a female! and...) had an episode that...
From Computational Complexity
Long Tails and Fat Heads
Sometimes words or phrases are used in MATH and then spread to the REAL WORLD. I have blogged about how the terms Prisoner's Dilemma has become a real-world-phrase...
From Computational Complexity
Crystal Math- What NUMB3RS and BREAKING BAD both get wrong
The TV show Numb3rs had as a premise that a GENIUS mathematician could help solve crimes. Is this true? I rather doubt you need a GENIUS- though of course some...
From Computational Complexity
STOC CFP still delayed- but I was asked to pass this along
Since there were comments on the blog about the STOC and CCC CFP not being out yet I mailed various people who are in-the-know. I got email from David Shmoys (STOC...
From Computational Complexity
Did YOU think the NSA could factor fast?
Before the recent revelations about the NSA (see Lances Post and Scott's post )I would tell my class, when teaching P and NP, We have very good reasons to think...
From Computational Complexity
T/F - No Explanation needed VS T/F-Explanation needed.
One of the comments on my blog on Types of question for exams A True/False math question where they have to prove their answer. A student who picks the wrongall...
From Computational Complexity
Types of questions for exams
QUESTION: Give as many types of exam questions you can, give examples, and comment on if this is a good type of question. My answer below. A problem that some...
From Computational Complexity
What are Galois Games?
How are math concepts named? After the people who was involved with it. Examples: The Cook-Levin Theorem, Goldbach Conjecture, Ehrenfeucht-Fraisse games, Banach...
From Computational Complexity
When Lance was 10 years old..
In honor of Lance's 50th birthday I ask the following: When Lance was 10 years old which of the following were true? (Disclosure- some of the below are from a birthday...
From Computational Complexity
How much Trig does your governor know?
How much math should our public officials know? Basic probability and statistics so they can follow the arguments that their science advisers give them. And they...
From Computational Complexity
Longest time between posing a math problem and it being answered?
(We were asked to remind you: ITCS 2014 Call for papers: call for papers.) What problem in math had the longest time between POSING IT and SOLVING it? This might...
From Computational Complexity