Mathematics

From Toni Airaksinen at Campus Reform: A math education professor at Brooklyn College contends in a recent academic article that “meritocracy” in math classes is a “tool of whiteness.” … To mediate this, Rubel recommends that math teachers incorporate more social justice issues into math lessons, but warns that even “teaching for social justice” can be a “tool of whiteness” if teachers are not sufficiently attuned to the experiences of minority students. This is because even social justice-minded professors may inadvertently hold the “belief that effort is always rewarded, [which corresponds] to various tools of whiteness, like the myths of meritocracy and colorblindness,” Rubel writes. More. It certainly sounds like a roundabout way of saying that getting the right answer Read More ›

Rafi Letzter at LiveScience tells us it is called M77232917 (represented in digits, in art, below): Its only factors are itself and the number 1. That’s what makes it prime. So how big is this number? A full 23,249,425 digits long — nearly 1 million digits longer than the previous record holder. If someone started writing it down, 1,000 digits a day, today (Jan. 8), they would finish on Sept. 19, 2081, according to some back-of-the-napkin calculations at Live Science. … Primes that are one less than a power of 2 belong to a special class, called Mersenne primes. The smallest Mersenne prime is 3, because it’s prime and also one less than 2 times 2. Seven is also a Read More ›

From Evolution News and Science Today: Due to the tradition of professional scientific writing, major developments in scientific literature often arrive muffled in language so bland or technical as to be totally missed by a general reader. This, along with the media’s habit of covering up for evolution, is how large cracks in the foundation of Darwinism spread unnoticed by the public, which goes on assuming that the science is all settled and will ever remain so. A case in point is a recent article in the Journal of Mathematical Biology, a significant peer-reviewed publication from the influential publisher Springer. The title of the article announces, “The fundamental theorem of natural selection with mutations.” … Fisher’s theorem, offered as what Read More ›

Fisher’s theorem, reportedly proving Darwinism, is currently disputed in mathematical literature by William Basener and John Sanford.   (Paper.) The controversy is attracting quite some attention. Dr. Basener has kindly offered an explanation for one of the questions raised in a comment and, for reader convenience, we reproduce both the question and the response as a post: Question: Erasmus Wiffball at 7: William Basener (Bill B): Do you agree that ID proponents commonly mistake mathematical models of evolution as attempts to prove that evolution works? Would you please tell everyone here what Fisher’s objective was in formulating his model? What was he attempting to model? To what degree did he succeed or fail in what he was attempting to do? (Surely Read More ›

The paper, by William Basener and John Sanford, shows that the continuous flow of new mutations that would continuously replenish a population’s genetic variability and enable Darwinian evolution does not really happen.  (Paper.) Much discussion has followed here and here. Basener has replied to Bob O’H, and for reader convenience, we are reproducing the comments here: First, Bob O’H: tjguy – The maths isn’t troubling (except that I’ sure they could have gone further). The simulation section shows that fitness can decrease, but we already knew this. Basener & Sanford don’t say what mutation rate they use though. It’s obvious, I think, that the paper will be used to claim that mutations mean that evolution can’t work, so it’s a shame they Read More ›

  Readers may recall that we noted a new Springer paper, by John Sanford* and William Basener**, explaining how Fisher’s proof of Darwinian evolution has been flipped. The authors of the new paper realized that one of Fisher’s pivotal assumptions was clearly false, and in fact was falsified many decades ago. It’s been quietly noticed (865 downloads) at site.  (Paper.) Paper. (public access) Here’s a synopsis for non-mathematicians. Twitter doesn’t like the paper. * John Sanford is inventor of the gene gun and other devices and author of many genetics papers, also a magnet for Darwin trolls on the internet. ** See also: Basener’s Ceiling See also: Fisher’s proof of Darwinian evolution has been flipped? The authors of the new paper Read More ›

That’s what they say. From the paper by Bill Basener and John Sanford on Fisher’s Fundamental Theorem of Natural Selection, published in The Journal of Mathematical Biology: Abstract: The mutation–selection process is the most fundamental mechanism of evolution. In 1935, R. A. Fisher proved his fundamental theorem of natural selection, providing a model in which the rate of change of mean fitness is equal to the genetic variance of a species. Fisher did not include mutations in his model, but believed that mutations would provide a continual supply of variance resulting in perpetual increase in mean fitness, thus providing a foundation for neo-Darwinian theory. In this paper we re-examine Fisher’s Theorem, showing that because it disregards mutations, and because it Read More ›

In a recent thread, the Kalam Cosmological argument family was challenged on the issue: can an actual infinity exist? If not (presumably due to Hilbert’s Hotel-like absurdities), then God could not be an infinite being as such is impossible of being. A thread of discussion developed, and I thought a summary intervention may be helpful. On further thought, perhaps it should be headlined: _________________ KF, 12: >> I think several themes are worth highlighting. It can be discussed that non-being, true nothingness cannot be a causal source. Were there ever utter nothing, such would therefore forever obtain. There would be no world.But, manifestly, there is a world. So, we must ponder the logic of being, at least in a nutshell. Read More ›

From Evan Minton at Cerebral Faith: In defense of the Kalam Cosmological Argument, apologists such as William Lane Craig, Frank Turek, and myself will argue for the second premise (i.e that the universe had a beginning to its existence) by arguing that an actually infinite number of things are impossible. If an actually infinite number of things are impossible, then a beginningless universe cannot exist since it would involve an actually infinite number of things existing, namely, past events. If you’ve read my book Inference To The One True God, you’ll know that the reason to believe an actually infinite number of things cannot exist is that if they could, various absurdities would result. For example, if I had an Read More ›

From Toni Airaksinen at Campus Reform: “On many levels, mathematics itself operates as Whiteness. Who gets credit for doing and developing mathematics, who is capable in mathematics, and who is seen as part of the mathematical community is generally viewed as White,” Gutierrez argued. Gutierrez also worries that algebra and geometry perpetuate privilege, fretting that “curricula emphasizing terms like Pythagorean theorem and pi perpetuate a perception that mathematics was largely developed by Greeks and other Europeans.” Math also helps actively perpetuate white privilege too, since the way our economy places a premium on math skills gives math a form of “unearned privilege” for math professors, who are disproportionately white. … Further, she also worries that evaluations of math skills can Read More ›

At Classical Conversations: There has been a growing trend to say that Americans need less algebra education. In The Math Myth, Andrew Hacker argues that algebra and other upper-level high school mathematics like geometry and trigonometry are largely unnecessary for students and can even get in the way of students preparing for the life ahead of them. Hacker is not alone in his assessment. The chancellor of the California community college system, Eloy Ortiz Oakley, is trying to remove algebra as a requirement for non-STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) majors. This idea has been getting play in outlets from the Huffington Post to the New York Times. I don’t disagree that there are problems in mathematics and the way Read More ›

From Kevin Hartnett at Quanta: Two mathematicians have proved that two different infinities are equal in size, settling a long-standing question. Their proof rests on a surprising link between the sizes of infinities and the complexity of mathematical theories. 66 … In a breakthrough that disproves decades of conventional wisdom, two mathematicians have shown that two different variants of infinity are actually the same size. The advance touches on one of the most famous and intractable problems in mathematics: whether there exist infinities between the infinite size of the natural numbers and the larger infinite size of the real numbers. … Their work also finally puts to rest a problem that mathematicians had hoped would help settle the continuum hypothesis. Read More ›

Which was a revolution. From Megan Gannon at LiveScience: The concept of zero as a number was revolutionary in mathematics. Historians have long known the idea came from India, but its exact origins remain murky. Now, the oldest Indian reference to the digit zero has been identified, in a manuscript dating back to the third or fourth century, scientists at the University of Oxford in England announced. … The concept of zero as the number representing absolute nothingness paved the way for algebra, calculus and computer science. The first text to discuss zero in the numerical sense is the Indian astronomer Brahmagupta’s work “Brahmasphutasiddhanta,” which was written in A.D. 628.More. Zero is an abstraction, not a number (it corresponds to Read More ›

From Robert Marks II, author (with Dembski and Ewert) of Evolutionary Informatics at Evolution News & Views: On a new episode of ID the Future, CSC Director of Communications Rob Crowther talks with Robert Marks, Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Baylor University, about Marks’s new book, Introduction to Evolutionary Informatics, which makes an important but esoteric-sounding field accessible to the general reader. Dr. Marks talks about how he and William Dembski originally connected as researchers, and began working on the subject in 2007, how intelligent design can inform thinking on artificial intelligence, and what a “search for a search” means in evolutionary terms. More. Search for a search?: Needle-in-the-haystack problems look for small targets in large spaces. Read More ›

The kalaam argument: The Cosmological Argument or First Cause Argument is a philosophical argument for the existence of God which explains that everything has a cause, that there must have been a first cause, and that this first cause was itself uncaused. The Kalam Cosmological Argument is one of the variants of the argument which has been especially useful in defending the philosophical position of theistic worldviews. The word “kalam” is Arabic for “speaking” but more generally the word can be interpreted as “theological philosophy.” (All About Philosophy) David Snoke, president of Christian Scientific Society, co-authored a paper with Michael Behe (2004). From his article, “Why Christians should not use the Kalaam argument,” The Kalaam argument is essentially as follows, although Read More ›