Related papers: De Divino Errore
In 1733, Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon in France, set the ground of geometric probability theory by defining an enlightening problem: What is the probability that a needle thrown randomly on a ground made of equispaced parallel…
Honorary degrees and particularly doctorates are important instruments to enhance the standing of universities and professors, in addition to receiving these as a measure of a scientist's recognition. Jacobus C. Kapteyn from the University…
In 1988, in cooperation with a team of experimental physicists, a Condensed Matter theorist, X, published in Physical Review Letters a crucial experimental result dealing with a revolutionary new theory. The conclusions of the paper were…
We give a short proof of the cross norm characterization of separability due to O. Rudolph and show how its computation, for a fixed chosen error, can be reduced to a linear programming problem whose dimension grows polynomially with the…
Based on the MRDP theorem concerning the Hilbert tenth problem, there is a corresponding Diophantine equation called proof equation for every formula of the First-order Peano Arithmetic (PA). A formula is provable in PA, if and only if the…
Robin's Conjecture is strengthened, deformed, and proved. Nicolas conjecture follows.
We discuss problems for convex Bayesian decision making and uncertainty representation. These include the inability to accommodate various natural and useful constraints and the possibility of an analog of the classical Dutch Book being…
The problem of combining beliefs in the Dempster-Shafer belief theory has attracted considerable attention over the last two decades. The classical Dempster's Rule has often been criticised, and many alternative rules for belief combination…
When Martin Gardner first presented the Two-Children problem, he made a mistake in its solution. Later he corrected the mistake in another publication, but unfortunately his incorrect solution is more widely known than his correction. In…
This article discusses several erroneous claims which appear in textbooks on numerical methods and computational physics. These are not typos or mistakes an individual author has made, but widespread misconceptions. In an attempt to stop…
In 1956/1970 Gamow wrote that much later, when he was discussing cosmological problems with Einstein, he remarked that the introduction of the cosmological term was the "biggest blunder" he ever made in his life. But the cosmological…
The seminal result of Johnson and Lindenstrauss on random embeddings has been intensively studied in applied and theoretical computer science. Despite that vast body of literature, we still lack of complete understanding of statistical…
H\"{o}lder's inequality, since its appearance in 1888, has played a fundamental role in Mathematical Analysis and it is, without any doubt, one of the milestones in Mathematics. It may seem strange that, nowadays, it keeps resurfacing and…
Euler showed that if an odd perfect number $N$ exists, it must consist of two parts $N=q^k n^2$, with $q$ prime, $q \equiv k \equiv 1 \pmod{4}$, and gcd$(q,n)=1$. Dris conjectured that $q^k < n$. We first show that $q<n$ for all odd perfect…
We examine Paul Halmos' comments on category theory, Dedekind cuts, devil worship, logic, and Robinson's infinitesimals. Halmos' scepticism about category theory derives from his philosophical position of naive set-theoretic realism. In the…
We discuss a non-intuitive situation concerning percentages.
This paper presents correspondence between Albert Einstein and the mathematical analyst J. L. B. Cooper on the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen (EPR) paradox of quantum theory published in 1935. Two letters written by Cooper, and the replies from…
We debate, departing from 2-3 readings of a single sentence in Proclus' Commentary to Plato's Republic, the plausibility of a rigorous (inductive) arithmetical derivation of an infinite sequence of pairs of side and diameter numbers by…
This book covers the history of probability up to Kolmogorov with essential additional coverage of statistics up to Fisher. Based on my work of ca. 50 years, it is the only suchlike book. Gorrochurn (2016) is similar but his study of events…
W. M. Hirsch formulated a beautiful conjecture on diameters of convex polyhedra.I suggest a new viewpoint with the deformation and moduli of polytopes.