Quantized Columns – Quanta Magazine https://www.quantamagazine.org Illuminating science Mon, 16 Sep 2024 14:10:47 -0400 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.2 How a NASA Probe Solved a Scorching Solar Mystery https://www.quantamagazine.org/how-a-nasa-probe-solved-a-scorching-solar-mystery-20240429/ https://www.quantamagazine.org/how-a-nasa-probe-solved-a-scorching-solar-mystery-20240429/#respond Mon, 29 Apr 2024 13:49:26 +0000 https://www.quantamagazine.org/?p=137582 The post How a NASA Probe Solved a Scorching Solar Mystery first appeared on Quanta Magazine

]]> Our sun is the best-observed star in the entire universe. We see its light every day. For centuries, scientists have tracked the dark spots dappling its radiant face, while in recent decades, telescopes in space and on Earth have scrutinized sunbeams in wavelengths spanning the electromagnetic spectrum. Experiments have also sniffed the sun’s atmosphere, captured puffs of the solar wind...

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]]> https://www.quantamagazine.org/how-a-nasa-probe-solved-a-scorching-solar-mystery-20240429/feed/ 0 Math That Connects Where We’re Going to Where We’ve Been https://www.quantamagazine.org/math-that-connects-where-were-going-to-where-weve-been-20240322/ https://www.quantamagazine.org/math-that-connects-where-were-going-to-where-weve-been-20240322/#respond Fri, 22 Mar 2024 13:08:27 +0000 https://www.quantamagazine.org/?p=136450 The post Math That Connects Where We’re Going to Where We’ve Been first appeared on Quanta Magazine

]]> Say you’re at a party with nine other people and everyone shakes everyone else’s hand exactly once. How many handshakes take place? This is the “handshake problem,” and it’s one of my favorites. As a math teacher, I love it because there are so many different ways you can arrive at the solution, and the diversity and interconnectedness of those strategies beautifully illustrate the power of...

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]]> https://www.quantamagazine.org/math-that-connects-where-were-going-to-where-weve-been-20240322/feed/ 0 Unfolding the Mysteries of Polygonal Billiards https://www.quantamagazine.org/the-mysterious-math-of-billiards-tables-20240215/ https://www.quantamagazine.org/the-mysterious-math-of-billiards-tables-20240215/#respond Thu, 15 Feb 2024 16:05:41 +0000 https://www.quantamagazine.org/?p=135408 The post Unfolding the Mysteries of Polygonal Billiards first appeared on Quanta Magazine

]]> In Disney’s 1959 film Donald in Mathmagic Land, Donald Duck, inspired by the narrator’s descriptions of the geometry of billiards, energetically strikes the cue ball, sending it ricocheting around the table before it finally hits the intended balls. Donald asks, “How do you like that for mathematics?” Because rectangular billiard tables have four walls meeting at right angles...

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]]> https://www.quantamagazine.org/the-mysterious-math-of-billiards-tables-20240215/feed/ 0 The Surprisingly Simple Math Behind Puzzling Matchups https://www.quantamagazine.org/the-surprisingly-simple-math-behind-puzzling-matchups-20240125/ https://www.quantamagazine.org/the-surprisingly-simple-math-behind-puzzling-matchups-20240125/#respond Thu, 25 Jan 2024 16:20:30 +0000 https://www.quantamagazine.org/?p=134281 The post The Surprisingly Simple Math Behind Puzzling Matchups first appeared on Quanta Magazine

]]> It’s the championship game of the Imaginary Math League, where the Atlanta Algebras will face the Carolina Cross Products. The two teams haven’t played each other this season, but earlier in the year Atlanta defeated the Brooklyn Bisectors by a score of 10 to 5, and Brooklyn defeated Carolina by a score of 7 to 3. Does that give us any insight into who will take the title? Well, here’s one line of...

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]]> https://www.quantamagazine.org/the-surprisingly-simple-math-behind-puzzling-matchups-20240125/feed/ 0 The Brain Region That Controls Movement Also Guides Feelings https://www.quantamagazine.org/the-part-of-the-brain-that-controls-movement-also-guides-feelings-20240123/ https://www.quantamagazine.org/the-part-of-the-brain-that-controls-movement-also-guides-feelings-20240123/#respond Tue, 23 Jan 2024 15:09:50 +0000 https://www.quantamagazine.org/?p=56909 The post The Brain Region That Controls Movement Also Guides Feelings first appeared on Quanta Magazine

]]> In recent decades, neuroscience has seen some stunning advances, and yet a critical part of the brain remains a mystery. I am referring to the cerebellum, so named for the Latin for “little brain,” which is situated like a bun at the back of the brain. This is no small oversight: The cerebellum contains three-quarters of all the brain’s neurons, which are organized in an almost crystalline...

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