Free Republic

A mathematician at Carnegie Mellon University has developed an easier way to solve quadratic equations. The mathematician hopes this method will help students avoid memorizing obtuse formulas. His secret is in generalizing two roots together instead of keeping them as separate values. ========================================================================== A mathematician has derived an easier way to solve quadratic equation problems, according to MIT's Technology Review. Quadratic equations are polynomials that include an x², and teachers use them to teach students to find two solutions at once. The new process, developed by Dr. Po-Shen Loh at Carnegie Mellon University, goes around traditional methods like completing...

Deputy Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh on Sunday once again praised the current terror wave against Israelis, which Hamas calls the “Al-Quds Intifada”, referring to it as "the greatest strategic development in the region" in recent years. Speaking at a conference of religious leaders in Gaza, Haniyeh said the “intifada” has "changed the equations for anyone who believed that the time for the intifada was over, because the struggle and the intifada are not over and our people have the power to impose other equations." He added that the intifada succeeded in less than two months in pulling the rug from...

U.S. President Barack Obama speaks at the announcement of the "Change the Equation" initiative at the White House in Washington September 16, 2010. The initiative seeks to improve science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education to better prepare students to lead in the 21st century economy. U.S. President Barack Obama speaks at an event for U.S. Senate candidate and Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal in Stamford, Connecticut, September 16, 2010.… Read more »

Public release date: 28-Aug-2007 Contact: Dr. Shripad Tuljapurkar tulja@stanford.edu Public Library of Science In matters of sex and death, men are an essential part of the equation Stanford scientists show in a forthcoming paper that traditional mating patterns make men the key to explaining away the “wall of death,” an enduring puzzle in the study of human longevity. The paper, to appear in the August 29 issue of the online, open-access journal PLoS ONE, proposes a solution to a conundrum in the study of human lifespan: why don’t we drop dead soon after the age of last female reproduction" Our...

That Famous Equation and You By BRIAN GREENE Correction AppendedDURING the summer of 1905, while fulfilling his duties in the patent office in Bern, Switzerland, Albert Einstein was fiddling with a tantalizing outcome of the special theory of relativity he'd published in June. His new insight, at once simple and startling, led him to wonder whether "the Lord might be laughing ... and leading me around by the nose." But by September, confident in the result, Einstein wrote a three-page supplement to the June paper, publishing perhaps the most profound afterthought in the history of science. A hundred years...

Watching ABC, CBS, or NBC news, you would never know that Iranian civilians are now being killed while protesting against their country’s Islamist dictators. You probably wouldn’t know that Iran is considered to be the “world's ‘most active state sponsor of terrorism.’” You most surely haven’t heard that between 10,000 and 15,000 Iranians risk life and liberty to run web logs (“blogs”) opposing their government. Maybe you’ve heard that Iran’s rulers are secretly building nuclear weapons, but did you know that Britain, France, Germany, and Russia have sold nuclear technologies to Iran? Have you heard that Iran now has ballistic...