Mathematical MomentsPosters and interviews about applications of math in the modern world
Latest Mathematical Moment
Deblurring Images
Malena Espanol explains how she and others use linear algebra to fix blurry images.
- See all Mathematical Moments.
- See the latest Mathematical Moments
- See Moments related to: Science, Nature, Technology, and Human Culture
Read and Watch More
Exploring Thermodynamics with Billiards
Tim Chumley explains the connections between random billiards and the science of heat and energy transfer. Read and watch more...
Pinpointing How Genes Interact
Mathematics helps researchers analyze datasets containing the DNA of hundreds of thousands of people. Read and watch more...
Securing Data in the Quantum Era
Quantum computers are coming, and mathematicians are working to make sure our data will stay secure. Read and watch more...
Taking the "Temperature" of Languages
A linguist and a physicist talk about how languages change over thousands of years. Read and watch more...
Making Room for Patients
David Scheinker talks about the math involved in hospital operations. Read and watch more...
Fighting Fires
Mark Finney talks about the math involved in modeling and fighting wildfires. Read and watch more...
Describing Dryland Vegetation Patterns
Mary Silber talks about the math of vegetation bands in near-desert ecosystems. Read and watch more...
Mixing Math and Cooking
Eugenia Cheng talks about the mathematics that surrounds us in the kitchen. Read and watch more...
Cracking Open Black Boxes
Cathy O'Neil talks about the unfairness of predictive algorithms. See and hear more...
Resisting the Spread of Disease
Mac Hyman talks about the math of COVID-19 models. See and Hear more...
Solving the Mystery of Wine Legs
Andrea Bertozzi wondered what, exactly, causes wine legs (or tears) to form. Hear what she found out. Hear more...
Picturing Powehi
Fumie Tazaki talks about the math--and collaboration--that went into creating the black hole image. Hear more...
Analyzing Mako Motion
Amy Lang talks about her work figuring out how mako sharks can swim so fast. Hear more...
Making Beautiful Mathematics
Robert Schneiderman, a math professor and jazz musician, talks about the shared characteristics of the two subjects. Hear more...
Keeping People Alive
Steven Strogatz and Mary Bushman talk about math's role in controlling HIV and understanding malaria, respectively. Hear more...
Making the Earth Flat
Tom Patterson and Bojan ?avrič discuss the projection map they created with Bernhard Jenny. Hear more...
Screening for Autism
Jordan Hashemi talks about the development of an app to screen for autism. Hear more...
Unbunching Buses
S. Ilgin Guler and Vikash V. Gayah explain their research to make bus systems operate better. Hear more...
Winning the Race
Former NASA engineer Christine Darden talks about her career at NASA, and about Hidden Figures. Hear more...
Revolutionizing an Industry
Christopher Brinton and Mung Chian talk about the Netflix Prize. Hear more...
Going Into a Shell
Derek Moulton talks about using math to explain the shapes of seashells. Hear more...
Keeping the Roof On
Stefan Siegmund talks about an invention to protect homes during hurricanes. Hear more...
Unscrambling Eggs
Mary Caswell Stoddard on her discoveries about the shapes of bird eggs. Hear more...
Giving Currency to Not Using Currency
Peter J. Denning explains Bitcoin and blockchains. Hear more...
Countermanding Gerrymandering
Moon Duchin describes how math can be used to identify partisan gerrymandering. Hear more...
Generating Patterns
Michel C. Milinkovitch discusses his surprising discovery about a lizard's skin pattern. Hear more...
Hunting for Planets
Konstantin Batygin explains the math involved in looking for Planet Nine. Hear more...
Designing Better Bicycles
Jim Papadopoulos talks about his years of research analyzing bicycles. Hear more...
Maintaining a Balance
Conant Prize winner Daniel Rothman's search for the cause of the end-Permian extinction. Hear more...
Making Art Work
Annalisa Crannell explains perspective and how to use it to enjoy art more. Hear more...
Trimming Taxiing Time
Hamsa Balakrishnan talks about her research into shortening airport runway queues. Hear more...
Dis-playing the Game of Thrones
Andrew Beveridge on using networks to analyze Game of Thrones. Hear more...
Scanning Ancient Sites
Jackson Cothren talks about creating three-dimensional images of historical and archaeological sites. Hear more...
Going Over the Top
Meredith Greer talks about the math involved in designing roller coasters. Hear more...
Treating Tremors
Chris Butson about work to improve the treatment of patients with Parkinson's disease and other disorders. Hear more...
Exploiting a Little-Known Force
Lydia Bourouiba talks about her work involving surface tension. Hear more...
Unifying Diverse Cities
Luís M.A. Bettencourt on how math connects the characteristics of many cities. Hear more...
Making an Attitude Adjustment
Repositioning spacecraft, including a great story about a master's thesis. Hear more...
Getting Inside Your Head
Van Wedeen talks about the structure of the brain's communication pathways. Hear more...
Thinking Outside the Box Score
Muthu Alagappan talks about using topology to analyze basketball. Hear more...
Putting the Auto in Automobile
How does math figure in to cars and intersections of the future? Find out...
Getting a Handle on Obesity
How is math used to analyze the worldwide obesity epidemic? Hear More...
Answering the Question, and Vice Versa
Hear how math helped create Watson, winner of the Jeopardy! Challenge. Hear More...
Putting Another Cork in It
ESPN?s Sport Science called on math prof Tim Chartier and former math major Daniel Martin to see if a triple cork was possible. Hear them talk about their investigation. Hear More...
Assigning Seats
Jennifer Wilson talks about determining the size of state delegations in the U.S. House of Representatives Hear More...
Creating Something out of (Next to) Nothing
Emmanuel Candès speaks about the exciting new field of compressed sensing. Hear More...
Getting at the Truth
Patrick Ball talks about his work investigating human rights abuses. Hear More...
Analyzing Data
Robert Ghrist explains how topology helps make sense of large data sets. Hear More...
Predicting Climate
Juan Meza talks about the many ways math is used to understand climate change. Hear More...
Matching Vital Needs
Sommer Gentry explains how math can increase the number of living-donor kidney transplants and save lives. Hear More...
Pulling Out (from) All the Stops
Hear Chris Solarz and Matt Ferrisi describe how they used graph theory to visit every New York subway stop in record time. Hear More...
Working It Out
A math professor solves a mystery about the opening chord of the Beatles' "A Hard Day's Night." Hear More...
Hearing a Master?s Voice
The spools of wire above contain the only known live recording of the legendary folk singer Woody Guthrie. Hear More...
Going with the Floes
A branch of mathematics called percolation theory helps explain how salt water travels through sea ice. Hear More...
Bending It Like Bernoulli
Hear how computational fluid dynamics is used to analyze soccer kicks. Hear More...
Finding Fake Photos
Actually, they weren?t caught together at all ? their images were put together with software. Hear More...
Putting Music on the Map
A recent mathematical breakthrough uses topology to represent musical chords as points in a space called an orbifold. Hear More...
Pinpointing Style
Mathematics is not just numbers and brute force calculation ? there is considerable art and elegance to the subject. Hear More...
Unearthing Power Lines
Votes are cast by the full membership in each house of Congress, but much of the important maneuvering occurs in committees. Hear More...
Targeting Tumors
Geometry, partial differential equations, and integer linear programming all allow doctors to inflict maximum damage to tumors. Hear More...
Folding for Fun and Function
Origami paper folding may not seem like a subject for mathematical investigation or one with sophisticated applications. Hear More...
Making Votes Count
The outcome of elections is often determined more by the voting procedure than by the votes themselves. Hear More...
Using Mathematical Moments
Download the 8.5" x 11" posters to
- Display in your office
- Use in the classroom
- Distribute at special events
- Promote math to colleagues
- Post on bulletin boards
- Launch a math club activity
Related Links
- Math in the Media (now featuring classroom activities!)
- Feature Column
- News from the AMS
- For Journalists
- Press Releases
- AMS in the News
