My name is Lê and I believe that the greatest challenge in education is to make science and math appealing.
This is why I aim at bringing enthusiasm and excitement to the readers’ learning experience.
I now run a Robustly Beneficial wiki, mostly on AI ethics, which has come to fascinate me!
The Magic of AnalysisThe Magic of Analysis By Lê Nguyên Hoang | Updated:2016-02 | Views: 1961 This article retraces the endless pursuit of the infinite that is at the basis of mathematical analysis. From the first approximations of pi to the shape of our limitless universe, from the essential usefulness of differential equations to the troubles with infinite sums, we present the great ideas of mathematical geniuses all along History.
The Harmonious Mathematics of MusicThe Harmonious Mathematics of Music By Lê Nguyên Hoang | Updated:2015-12 | Views: 17417 It was when hearing the sounds of hammers that Pythagoras realized the ubiquity of numbers in mathematical harmony. He would go on laying down the mathematical foundations of music, based on octaves, perfect fifths and major thirds. This mathematics of music would then become the favourite playground of all musicians, from Beethoven to Gangnam Style.
The Tortuous Geometry of the Flat TorusThe Tortuous Geometry of the Flat Torus By Lê Nguyên Hoang | Updated:2015-12 | Views: 20979 Take a square sheet of paper. Can you glue opposite sides without ever folding the paper? This is a conundrum that many of the greatest modern mathematicians, like Gauss, Riemann, and Mandelbrot, couldn't figure out. While John Nash did answer yes, he couldn't say how. After 160 years of research, Vincent Borrelli and his collaborators have finally provided a revolutionary and breathtaking example of a bending of a square sheet of paper! And it is spectacularly beautiful!
Does God play dice?Does God play dice? By Arthur Marronnier | Updated:2016-02 | Views: 1768 For Albert Einstein, the answer is no. But what did he mean? Has the greatest theoretical physicist of all time really missed the bandwagon of quantum physics? What are the real issues of the controversy that has opposed him to the Copenhagen School (Bohr, Heisenberg ...)? Back to the physics of the early twentieth century, its history, philosophy and ideas.
The Amazing Physics of Water in TreesThe Amazing Physics of Water in Trees By Lê Nguyên Hoang | Updated:2016-01 | Views: 67056 As explained by Derek Muller on Veritasium, the flow of water in trees involves complex physical phenomena including pressure, osmosis, negative pressure, capillarity and evapotranspiration. What seems simple will blow your mind!
Euclidean Geometry and NavigationEuclidean Geometry and Navigation By Scott McKinney | Updated:2020-07 | Views: 8979 This is the first of a series of three posts. In this post we'll see how the Greeks developed a system of geometry - literally "Earth measure" - to assist with planetary navigation. We then will see why their assumption that the Earth is flat means that Euclidean geometry is insufficient for studying the Earth. The Earth's spherical surface looks flat from our perspective, but is actually qualitatively different from a flat surface. In the ensuing posts, we'll see why this implies that it is impossible to make a perfectly accurate map of the Earth, and build on this idea to get a glimpse into Einstein's revolutionary theories regarding the geometry of the space-time universe.
Pluto is NOT (not?) a PlanetPluto is NOT (not?) a Planet By Lê Nguyên Hoang | Updated:2015-12 | Views: 3592 In 2006, Pluto was officially demoted from its planetary status. When we dig a little bit, this isn't much of the surprise. What's more interesting is rather why it ever was regarded as a planet, as the History of Pluto highlights a magic enterprise that science is!
The Triangle of PowerThe Triangle of Power By Lê Nguyên Hoang | Updated:2016-10 | Views: 12148 Notations do not matter to the essence of mathematics. But poor notations can be misleading. Notations based on exponents, radicals and logarithms definitely are. They are very distinct, even though they are supposed to describe very similar relations between numbers. The triangle of power is a recently proposed alternative. In short, I am convinced!
Logarithms and Age CountingLogarithms and Age Counting By Lê Nguyên Hoang | Updated:2015-12 | Views: 9126 Amusingly, the age difference between a 45-year-old man and a 25-year-old woman doesn't seem as big as the age difference between them 20 years earlier, when the woman was a little 5-year-old girl. This remark was the insight the late science popularizer Albert Jacquart liked to give to his readers to explain logarithms. This article pays tribute to the great scientist by introducing age difference as he liked to tell it.