The most widely used technique for finding the largest or smallest values of a math function turns out to be a fundamentally difficult computational problem. Many aspects of modern applied research ...

The original version of this story appeared in Quanta Magazine. One July afternoon in 2024, Ryan Williams set out to prove himself wrong. Two months had passed since he’d hit upon a startling ...

Algorithmic complexity and information theory are foundational disciplines that intersect to elucidate how data is structured, transmitted and computed. At its core, algorithmic complexity seeks to ...

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Assembly theory bridges the gap between physics and biology in explaining how complex objects are identifiable as products of evolution and how reusability of parts allows novelty and identical ...

An international team of researchers has developed a new theoretical framework that bridges physics and biology to provide a unified approach for understanding how complexity and evolution emerge in ...

In 2006, economists at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York started to worry about the overheating US housing market. Concerned that the bubble might burst, they used their best model to predict what ...