Skeptics Stack Exchange
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Questions tagged [mathematics]

Mathematics is the science of numbers and shapes. Mathematics may also be considered a formal language to describe physics.

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Is it possible to generate all photos ever taken by random sequencing of bits?

All JPGS, pngs etc are basically just sequences of bits. Is it possible to generate these by making a program that generates random sequences of bits? For example say that the sequence 100010111 is all the bits used to store a picture of mona lisa…
bogen
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Did Grothendieck reinvent the Lebesgue integral?

I have heard multiple times the story that while being a first year undergraduate student, mathematician Alexander Grothendieck rediscovered the Lebesgue integration, which was not so known at this time. Is this true?
the L
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Is "Magic: The Gathering" the world's most complicated game?

For this question we stablish games as officially recognized board or card games. Several sources stablish that game as the most complicated one, although it does so by mentioning that a computer was unable to determine optimal play, although it…
user2638180
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Are there many per capitas?

Politico quotes Donald Trump : Just this past week, Trump reveled in a mental list he has been keeping of how many tests the U.S. has conducted, approaching 14 million, in comparison with other countries — Germany at 3 million, Italy at 3 million.…
Mawg says reinstate Monica
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Are these occurences of the mathematical constants e and pi in The Bible at all exceptional?

This article translates the first verses of Genesis 1:1 and John 1:1, into Hebrew and Greek numeric values, then uses a single formula on both to get good approximations for e and pi, each times large multiples of ten. In the Hebrew and Greek…
user7778287
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Would a hypothetical introduction of 2 swimming pools per second of water result in 6 inches of sea level rise this century?

A recent CBS News article, Climate Diaries: The hottest climate science in the world's coldest place quotes Joe MacGregor, the chief scientist of NASA's Operation IceBridge mission: "Presently, the Antarctic ice sheet is discharging more than two…
gMagQcy
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Pedometers / fitness trackers and setting stride length from your height - how accurate?

Looking at a couple of pedometer instruction leaflets, from different manufacturers, and spotted that they both suggest you can approximate your stride length from your height via the following formula: females = 0.413 * height males = 0.415 *…
arober11
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Will there be more than 11 million job openings related to Data Science in India by 2026?

This Career Outlook for Data Scientist article claims that analyst predict that there will be more than 11 million job openings by 2026 in the field of data science. Does this claim makes sense given the market conditions? Also article claims about…
Stupid_Intern
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Does putting a tiny electrical current across the parietal lobe boosts maths ability?

A 2010 BBC article says: Applying a tiny electrical current to the brain could make you better at learning maths, according to Oxford University scientists. They found that targeting a part of the brain called the parietal lobe improved the ability…
NoSenseEtAl
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Is it possible for Armavir to see ballistic missile over Mediterranean (how high was it)?

Some time ago there were several statements about missile launch detection over the Midterranean using russian Station Armavir: http://rbth.ru/science_and_tech/2013/09/09/armavir_radar_keeps_an_eye_on_the_middle_east_29629.html Armavir radar…
osgx
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Is golden ratio the most aesthetically pleasing ratio?

I have read several claims in all kinds of literature (both scientific, less scientific and downwards anti-scientific) about golden ratio and its "aesthetics". However, all the "proofs" I have seen seemed to me like arbitrarily chosen and ignored…
Karel Bílek
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Is kabbah the center of the earth

Possible Duplicate: Question about the Kabbah and the center of the earth In the following video it is claimed that Kabbah is the center of the earth. What is the scientific proof of this claim. Furthermore what is the proof behind the…
Jose Luis
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Is the size of the territory of a country purely random?

I read a blog post that attempts to show that the size of the territory of a country is purely random and therefore bears no major historical significance. The argumentation (simplified a bit) is as follows: If we plot sizes of countries on a…
gaazkam
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Will Earth drift outside of the Goldilocks zone in the next half-billion years?

According to American actor Terrence Howard in his address at the Oxford Union Society: Our planet is moving away from our sun at six inches a year [...] 15 centimeters a year our planet is pushing away from the sun. In less then half a billion…
Evan Carroll
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