explainers – Quanta Magazine https://www.quantamagazine.org Illuminating science Fri, 21 Feb 2025 21:18:44 -0500 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.6.2 Catalytic Computing Taps the Full Power of a Full Hard Drive https://www.quantamagazine.org/catalytic-computing-taps-the-full-power-of-a-full-hard-drive-20250218/ https://www.quantamagazine.org/catalytic-computing-taps-the-full-power-of-a-full-hard-drive-20250218/#respond Tue, 18 Feb 2025 15:15:12 +0000 https://www.quantamagazine.org/?p=146655 The post Catalytic Computing Taps the Full Power of a Full Hard Drive first appeared on Quanta Magazine

]]> “Obviously” is a dangerous word, even in scenarios that seem simple. Suppose, for instance, you need to do an important computation. You get to choose between two computers that are almost identical, except that one has an extra hard drive full of precious family photos. It’s natural to assume that the two options are equally good — that an extra drive with no space remaining won’t aid your…

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]]> https://www.quantamagazine.org/catalytic-computing-taps-the-full-power-of-a-full-hard-drive-20250218/feed/ 0 How Noether’s Theorem Revolutionized Physics https://www.quantamagazine.org/how-noethers-theorem-revolutionized-physics-20250207/ https://www.quantamagazine.org/how-noethers-theorem-revolutionized-physics-20250207/#respond Fri, 07 Feb 2025 14:17:48 +0000 https://www.quantamagazine.org/?p=146386 The post How Noether’s Theorem Revolutionized Physics first appeared on Quanta Magazine

]]> In the fall of 1915, the foundations of physics began to crack. Einstein’s new theory of gravity seemed to imply that it should be possible to create and destroy energy, a result that threatened to upend two centuries of thinking in physics. Einstein’s theory, called general relativity, radically transformed the meaning of space and time. Rather than being fixed backdrops to the events of the…

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]]> https://www.quantamagazine.org/how-noethers-theorem-revolutionized-physics-20250207/feed/ 0 The Jagged, Monstrous Function That Broke Calculus https://www.quantamagazine.org/the-jagged-monstrous-function-that-broke-calculus-20250123/ https://www.quantamagazine.org/the-jagged-monstrous-function-that-broke-calculus-20250123/#respond Thu, 23 Jan 2025 15:42:09 +0000 https://www.quantamagazine.org/?p=145892 The post The Jagged, Monstrous Function That Broke Calculus first appeared on Quanta Magazine

]]> Calculus is a powerful mathematical tool. But for hundreds of years after its invention in the 17th century, it stood on a shaky foundation. Its core concepts were rooted in intuition and informal arguments, rather than precise, formal definitions. Two schools of thought emerged in response, according to Michael Barany, a historian of math and science at the University of Edinburgh.

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]]> https://www.quantamagazine.org/the-jagged-monstrous-function-that-broke-calculus-20250123/feed/ 0 Why Computer Scientists Consult Oracles https://www.quantamagazine.org/why-computer-scientists-consult-oracles-20250103/ https://www.quantamagazine.org/why-computer-scientists-consult-oracles-20250103/#respond Fri, 03 Jan 2025 14:40:14 +0000 https://www.quantamagazine.org/?p=145383 The post Why Computer Scientists Consult Oracles first appeared on Quanta Magazine

]]> Pose a question to a Magic 8 Ball, and it’ll answer yes, no or something annoyingly indecisive. We think of it as a kid’s toy, but theoretical computer scientists employ a similar tool. They often imagine they can consult hypothetical devices called oracles that can instantly, and correctly, answer specific questions. These fanciful thought experiments have inspired new algorithms and helped…

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]]> https://www.quantamagazine.org/why-computer-scientists-consult-oracles-20250103/feed/ 0 What Is Distributed Computing? https://www.quantamagazine.org/what-is-distributed-computing-20241125/ https://www.quantamagazine.org/what-is-distributed-computing-20241125/#respond Mon, 25 Nov 2024 14:49:44 +0000 https://www.quantamagazine.org/?p=144406 The post What Is Distributed Computing? first appeared on Quanta Magazine

]]> No device is an island: Your daily computational needs depend on more than just the microprocessors inside your computer or phone. Our modern world relies on “distributed computing,” which shares the computational load among multiple different machines. The technique passes data back and forth in an elaborate choreography of digital bits — a dance that has shaped the internet’s past…

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