My favorite is modeling languages that overload basic notation and run differently based on the dimensions of your data. E.g., in yalmip/matlab M=sdpvar(m,n); M>=0; means two completely different things (elementwise nonnegative or positive semidefinite) depending on whether m=n or not. Always RTFM.
How about the Collatz conjecture? QWERTY friendly and can be explained to a first grader, but unsolved: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collatz...
Natural sciences are nice, too, but one can't have enough math. Even if no laptops were harmed during the making of the article.
A New Pyramid-Like Shape Always Lands the Same Side Up. A tetrahedron is the simplest Platonic solid. Mathematicians have now made one that’s stable only on one side, confirming a decades-old conjecture. www.quantamagazine.org/a-new-pyrami...
The Hungarian "százholdas pagony" is also quite a bit larger than the English wood, but apparently quite a bit smaller than the Dutch one. (About 142 acres.)
Our latest blogpost is a little weekend treat for everybody interested in conic reformulations!
themosekblog.blogspot.com/2025/02/a-sm...
I’m an NSF panel reviewer that was scheduled to meet today. Just got notice that all NSF panels were canceled today. I reviewed some innovative proposals in support of students. Devastating if these scholars don’t get to do this work. For the love of science & students I hope this is just a delay.💔
