Related papers: The Magnetic Tower of Hanoi
We consider the tiling of an $n$-board (a $1\times n$ array of square cells of unit width) with half-squares ($\frac12\times1$ tiles) and $(\frac12,\frac12)$-fence tiles. A $(\frac12,\frac12)$-fence tile is composed of two half-squares…
We prove a theorem that reduces bounding the mixing time of a card shuffle to verifying a condition that involves only triplets of cards. Then we use it to analyze a classic model of card shuffling. In 1988, Diaconis introduced the…
The dense vortex matter structure and associated magnetization are calculated for type-II superconducting mesoscopic disks. The magnetization exhibits generically first-order phase transitions as the number of vortices changes by one and…
A fundamental question in parallel computation, posed by Karp, Upfal, and Wigderson (FOCS 1985, JCSS 1988), asks: \emph{given only independence-oracle access to a matroid on $n$ elements, how many rounds are required to find a basis using…
Cohn and Umans proposed a framework for developing fast matrix multiplication algorithms based on the embedding computation in certain groups algebras. In subsequent work with Kleinberg and Szegedy, they connected this to the search for…
The 15-Puzzle is a well studied permutation puzzle. This paper explores the group structure of a three-dimensional variant of the 15-Puzzle known as the Varikon Box, with the goal of providing a heuristic that would help a human solve it…
Let $S$ be a connected graph which contains an induced path of $n-1$ vertices, where $n$ is the order of $S.$ We consider a puzzle on $S$. A configuration of the puzzle is simply an $n$-dimensional column vector over $\{0, 1\}$ with…
In 1924, S. Banach and A. Tarski proved an astonishing, yet rather counterintuitive paradox: given a solid ball in $\mathbb{R}^3$, it is possible to partition it into finitely many pieces and reassemble them to form two solid balls, each…
We investigate a coin-weighing puzzle that appeared in the all-Russian math Olympiad in 2000. We liked the puzzle because the methods of analysis differ from classical coin-weighing puzzles. We generalize the puzzle by varying the number of…
A minimal perfect hash function (MPHF) maps a set S of n keys to the first n integers without collisions. There is a lower bound of n*log(e)=1.44n bits needed to represent an MPHF. This can be reached by a brute-force algorithm that tries…
The "n! conjecture" of Garsia and Haiman has inspired mathematicians for nearly two decades, even after Haiman published a proof in 2001. Kumar and Funch Thomsen proved in 2003 that in order to prove the conjecture for all partitions, it…
The Rubik's Cube is the most popular puzzle in the world. Two of its studied aspects are God's Number, the minimum number of turns necessary to solve any state, and the first law of cubology, a solvability criterion. We modify previous…
We use magneto-transport measurements to investigate the electronic structure of WTe2 single crystals. A non-saturating and parabolic magnetoresistance is observed in the temperature range between 2.5 to 200 K and magnetic fields up to 8 T.…
Mosaic knots, first introduced in 2008 by Lomanoco and Kauffman, have become a useful tool for studying combinatorial invariants of knots and links. In 2020, by considering knot mosaics on $n \times n$ polygons with boundary edge…
Stars and their kinematics provide one of the tools available for studies of the shapes of galaxies and their halos. In this review I focus on two specific applications: the shape of the Milky Way dark halo and the shape of the LMC disk.…
Let T(x,r) denote the first hitting time of the disc of radius r centered at x for Brownian motion on the two dimensional torus. We prove that sup_{x} T(x,r)/|log r|^2 --> 2/pi as r --> 0. The same applies to Brownian motion on any smooth,…
The minimum number of NOT gates in a logic circuit computing a Boolean function is called the inversion complexity of the function. In 1957, A. A. Markov determined the inversion complexity of every Boolean function and proved that…
If the number of runs in a (mixed-level) orthogonal array of strength 2 is specified, what numbers of levels and factors are possible? The collection of possible sets of parameters for orthogonal arrays with N runs has a natural lattice…
The classical Maker-Breaker positional game is played on a board which is a hypergraph $\mathcal{H}$, with two players, Maker and Breaker, alternately claiming vertices of $\mathcal{H}$ until all the vertices are claimed. When the game…
In this paper we analyze the dynamic stability of the hovering magnetic top from first principles without using any preliminary assumptions. We write down the equations of motion for all six degrees of freedom and solve them analytically…