Max Tegmark’s “Our Mathematical Universe”

Physicist Max Tegmark has just published an interesting new book entitled Our Mathematical Universe: My Quest for the Ultimate Nature of Reality. In this very lucidly written book, Tegmark takes the reader on a tour of modern physics and then introduces his theory of the ultimate nature of the universe.

Tegmark starts out by exploring a list of questions, such as “How big is space?,” “Where did our solar system come from?” and “Where did our big bang come from?.” He then examines some of the difficulties with current theories, including both the successes and failures of the “inflation”

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January 31st, 2014 | Category: Book Reviews | Comments are closed

Are our brains hard-wired for numbers?

Numerous studies have been done trying to assess the degree to which mathematical ability is inborn or learned. Especially since the era of brain imaging made neurological enquiry realistic.

For example, in a 2011 study, Melissa Libertus, a psychologist at Johns Hopkins University, displayed briefly flashing groups of blue and yellow dots on a computer screen to 200 four-year-old children. The children had to estimate which group of dots was larger (in number). They also were given a standard test of early mathematical ability that measures numbering skills (counting items on a page), numeral literacy (reading numbers), and elementary calculation

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January 14th, 2014 | Category: Essays | Comments are closed

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January 1st, 2014 | Category: Disclaimer and copyright | Comments are closed