All posts tagged: Math

UC stirs furious debate over what high school math skills are needed

UC stirs furious debate over what high school math skills are needed

Briana Hampton, a San Gabriel High School junior, is determined to get into a four-year university to achieve her dream of becoming a social worker or psychiatrist. But she feared she would fail a third-year math course heavy on advanced algebra. To meet her math requirement, she opted instead for an introductory data science course, approved a few years ago by the University of California as an alternative to advanced algebra. She loves the challenge of learning how to code, conduct surveys and analyze data on topics relevant to her life — sleep hours, stress levels, snacks consumed. She’s also boasting a B average in the class, compared to the Ds and Fs earned in her first-year math class. “I’ve always struggled with math, but I heard that [data science] was like a really good class and something new and easier than algebra,” Briana said. But the data science option is gone, at least for now. Last month UC notified California high schools that three of the most popular data science courses no longer count …

Never-Repeating Patterns of Tiles Can Safeguard Quantum Information

Never-Repeating Patterns of Tiles Can Safeguard Quantum Information

This extreme fragility might make quantum computing sound hopeless. But in 1995, the applied mathematician Peter Shor discovered a clever way to store quantum information. His encoding had two key properties. First, it could tolerate errors that only affected individual qubits. Second, it came with a procedure for correcting errors as they occurred, preventing them from piling up and derailing a computation. Shor’s discovery was the first example of a quantum error-correcting code, and its two key properties are the defining features of all such codes. The first property stems from a simple principle: Secret information is less vulnerable when it’s divided up. Spy networks employ a similar strategy. Each spy knows very little about the network as a whole, so the organization remains safe even if any individual is captured. But quantum error-correcting codes take this logic to the extreme. In a quantum spy network, no single spy would know anything at all, yet together they’d know a lot. Each quantum error-correcting code is a specific recipe for distributing quantum information across many qubits …

AI Math Review: The Most Powerful AI Math Problem Solver

AI Math Review: The Most Powerful AI Math Problem Solver

With technology advancing so quickly these days, students are often in search of efficient and reliable solutions to tackle math assignments. One such solution that has gained significant attention is AIMath, a math AI homework solver. In this review, we’ll take a closer look at AIMath—checking out its tools, advantages, and abilities. We’ll evaluate things like accuracy, step-by-step guides, subject material covered, and overall performance. What Is AIMath?   AIMath is an advanced math AI homework solver designed to assist students in solving a wide range of mathematical problems. Utilizing powerful algorithms and machine learning techniques, AIMath offers accurate solutions, detailed instructions, and comprehensive coverage of math topics. With this Math AI solver, students can input their math problems and receive step-by-step solutions along with clear explanations. AIMath goes beyond providing just the final answer by breaking down the problem-solving process into manageable steps, making it easier for students to grasp and learn from. The AI capabilities of AIMath enable it to continuously improve upon its accuracy and efficiency. By analyzing and learning from vast …

Mathful Review: Best Free AI Math Solver Online for Any Students and Math Learners

Mathful Review: Best Free AI Math Solver Online for Any Students and Math Learners

In an age where education is increasingly intersecting with digital solutions, one AI math tool has captured the attention of students, educators, and technology enthusiasts alike: Mathful. This AI math solver is making waves for its innovative approach to tackling one of academia’s oldest challenges – understanding and solving math problems. This review delves into the depths of Mathful, exploring its features, benefits, and the broader implications of such technologies in the evolving landscape of education. Introduction to Mathful: A Smart AI Math Solver   At its core, Mathful is a testament to the advancements in artificial intelligence and its application in educational contexts. It emerges as an avant-garde platform integrating AI math solver capabilities, presenting innovative solutions to the often arduous task of math problem-solving. It stands as a bastion of support for learners at all levels, operating as a free AI math solver that transcends traditional educational barriers. The Mechanics of Mathful: How It Works Mathful operates on a blend of advanced algorithms and machine learning technology, enabling it to offer step-by-step solutions …

Expert: GOP primary elections use “flawed math” to pick nominees

Expert: GOP primary elections use “flawed math” to pick nominees

Republicans around the country are picking a nominee to run for president. However, their process – designed and run by the party, not government officials – is a mess of flawed mathematics that can end up delivering a result that’s in conflict with the person most voters actually support. As a mathematics professor and co-founder of the Institute for Mathematics and Democracy, I watched this contradictory process play out in 2016, shaping the political landscape ever since. Elements of it are visible again in 2024. There are many ways bad mathematics interferes with our democracy, as I explain in my forthcoming book, “Making Democracy Count: How Mathematics Improves Voting, Electoral Maps, and Representation.” Here’s how the Republican primaries can manage to defy democratic ideals and deliver a nominee even though most voters prefer someone else: Splitting votes among many candidates In 2016, former President Donald Trump became the Republican choice, having won 44.9% of the votes cast in primaries. That was nearly twice the share of votes won by the runner-up, Ted Cruz, who had …

Why Chatbots (LLMs) Flunk Routine Grade 9 Math Tests

Why Chatbots (LLMs) Flunk Routine Grade 9 Math Tests

An alert reader recently emailed me a “basic high school problem” that he had been using to test Google’s touted Gemini program. The problem came from last year’s University of Waterloo online exam for 9th graders: In a survey, 100 students were asked if they like lentils and were also asked if they like chickpeas. A total of 68 students like lentils. A total of 53 like chickpeas. A total of 6 like neither lentils nor chickpeas. How many of the 100 students like both lentils and chickpeas? The solution can be obtained by using a two-way table. Here is the given information: Like Lentils Do Not Like Lentils Total Like Chickpeas 53 Do Not Like Chickpeas 6 Total 68 100 Filling in the missing cells, there are 27 students who like both lentils and chickpeas:   Like Lentils Do Not Like Lentils Total Like Chickpeas 27 26 53 Do Not Like Chickpeas 41 6 47 Total 68 32 100 This is a straightforward type of problem that large language models (LLMs) will have encountered …

“The math keeps getting worse”: James Comer admits he may have to give up on Biden impeachment probe

“The math keeps getting worse”: James Comer admits he may have to give up on Biden impeachment probe

The impeachment inquiry House Republicans launched into President Joe Biden may not end with an impeachment vote, House Oversight Chair James Comer, R-Ky., admitted in a recent interview with Spectrum News. Speaking to the news source last week, Comer indicated that the House holding a vote is decreasingly likely because the “math keeps getting worse” for the GOP, a statement reflecting Republican’s narrowing majority and internal skepticism about the merits of the investigation, Mediaite reports.  Comer’s probe — which is examining allegations that Biden accepted bribes, laundered money and peddled influence in connection to his son’s overseas business activities — has yet to yield any substantial evidence of the president committing any wrongdoing, which some Republican representatives have admitted. How the Democrat-controlled Senate addresses the recent impeachment of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas will be an indication of how their inquiry will go, Comer told Spectrum.  “I think the conference will get to see what happens with this Mayorkas impeachment in the Senate and how serious the Senate treats that as to whether or not …

Not A Single Child Tested Proficient In Math In 67 Illinois Schools

Not A Single Child Tested Proficient In Math In 67 Illinois Schools

By Ted Dabrowski and John Klingner of Wirepoints Last week, Elon Musk, Vivek Ramaswamy, and Jordan Peterson helped expose the failures of Illinois’ public education system on X. Their engagement with a Wirepoints report, “Illinois education 2022: Not a single student can do math at grade level in 53 schools. For reading, it’s 30 schools,” revealed the thousands of students trapped in completely failing schools in 2022.  But those results are now old news. Wirepoints has just run the new Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) 2023 Report Card data and the outcomes are worse even though the impacts of covid are another year behind us.  In 2023, there were 67 Illinois schools where not a single student tested proficient in math and 32 where no student tested proficient in reading. What’s worse, officials in those schools graduated nearly 70% of their students. More than 12,000 students attend Illinois’ zero-proficiency schools. Every single one of those children will struggle in life because they lack basic reading and math skills.  Take Collins Academy High School on …

This civil engineer turns to math to make energy more affordable 

This civil engineer turns to math to make energy more affordable 

advocate: (n.) Someone who performs work to support some cause, idea or program. For instance, they might campaign for some change, speak up on behalf of someone or something in court (or other public forum), or write commentaries (opinion pieces) on a topic for some news outlet. (v.) The term for the act of doing such work. For instance, Sarah advocated for turning over the group’s bake sale proceeds to buy a new park bench.  algebra: A field of mathematics that describes a way to think about certain relationships that will involve numbers. And not just any particular number, usually, but abstract expressions involving numbers. For instance, instead of saying “1 + 2 = 3” or “3 – 1 = 2,” algebra gives each number a letter to take its place. So it now reads something like a “a + b = c” or “c – a = b.” But any number can substitute for those letters as long as the values on each side of the equal sign are still true. In other words, …

Why does AI being good at math matter?

Why does AI being good at math matter?

This is the second time in recent months that the AI world has got all excited about math. The rumor mill went into overdrive last November, when there were reports that the boardroom drama at OpenAI, which saw CEO Sam Altman temporarily ousted, was caused by a new powerful AI breakthrough. It was reported that the AI system in question was called Q* and could solve complex math calculations. (The company has not commented on Q*, and we still don’t know if there was any link to the Altman ouster or not.) I unpacked the drama and hype in this story. You don’t need to be really into math to see why this stuff is potentially very exciting. Math is really, really hard for AI models. Complex math, such as geometry, requires sophisticated reasoning skills, and many AI researchers believe that the ability to crack it could herald more powerful and intelligent systems. Innovations like AlphaGeometry show that we are edging closer to machines with more human-like reasoning skills. This could allow us to build more powerful AI …