Three is a number, right? So are pi, the square root of two or i. But mathematics is all about abstraction, so how do we abstract the concept of a number? How do we properly define numbers?
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Author: Mario Borna Mjertan
Mario Borna Mjertan is a student of mathematics at the Department of Mathematics, Faculty of Science, University of Zagreb. He serves as Project Director for Znanstvenik u meni! and actively works on science popularisation projects such as ZUM, S3++ and other projects.
Remember when we wrote about the finale of our science communication competition Znanstvenik u meni (The Scientist in Me)? Applications for high school students in Croatia are open until December 20th.
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Simulating the bean machine
We’re doing this issue’s DIY Science a bit unconventionally: today, you’ll write your own program to simulate a bean machine, also known as the Galton board. What’s a bean machine, why is that interesting and how to write your first program – find out in today’s post.
We rely on computers to make all sorts of decisions these days: computers can decide faster and better than humans, for the most part. Whether you swipe a card in a store, open up Netflix to take a look at its recommendations or search your computer for that one file you just can’t find, a computer takes a look at the data available, runs an algorithm and gives you a result. That data can be your account balance, past viewing activity or an index of your files, but it can be something much more important – and as we grow to trust computers to perform more and more tasks that humans have traditionally been doing, how can we make sure that they make the right decisions? And are they making good decisions right now? Or are they actually amplifying sexism and racism?
Although we had to cancel the Summer School this year, we haven’t been slacking off. In fact, June was quite eventful for us here at EVO.
Besides launching this blog and our alumni newsletter, the finale of our science communication competition, Znanstvenik u meni, was held at Infinum HQ in Zagreb on the 13th of June. Interested?
I know you’re all sick of hearing about coronavirus, but hear me out: this is great news. A new update to iOS and Android has introduced coronavirus contact tracing.
It’s a genius way to help solve one of today’s most pressing issues in a privacy-protecting and efficient manner. Contact tracing in iOS and Android works in a way that lets epidemiologists alert people when they might have been exposed to SARS-CoV-2 and tell them to self-isolate, all without anybody knowing who you were with, what you were doing, and where.
If that sounds too good to be true, get ready for some computer science.