TechAndComputer (July 7, 2010) A study that examined 30 years of standardized test data from the very highest-scoring seventh graders has found that performance differences between boys and girls have narrowed considerably, but boys still outnumber girls by more than about 3-to-1 at extremely high levels of math ability and scientific reasoning.
At the same time, girls slightly outnumber boys at extremely high levels of verbal reasoning and...
TechAndComputer (July 7, 2010) A study that examined 30 years of standardized test data from the very highest-scoring seventh graders has found that performance differences between boys and girls have narrowed considerably, but boys still outnumber girls by more than about 3-to-1 at...
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When screen time becomes a pain
- 08 June 2010
- Editor
TechAndComputer (Aug. 2, 2010) The amount of time teenagers spend in front of TV screens and monitors has been associated with physical complaints. A large study of more than 30,000 Nordic teenagers published in the open access journal BMC Public Health has shown that TV viewing, computer use and computer gaming (screen time) were consistently associated with back pain and recurrent headaches.
Torbjørn Torsheim, from the University of Bergen,...
TechAndComputer (Aug. 2, 2010) The...
Torbjørn Torsheim, from the University of Bergen,...
TechAndComputer (Aug. 2, 2010) The...
Major step ahead for cryptography
- 25 May 2010
- Editor
TechAndComputer (May 26, 2010) Imagine you could work out the answer to a question, without knowing what the question was. For example, suppose someone thinks of two numbers and then asks another person to work out their sum, without letting them know what the two numbers are. However, they are given an encryption of the two numbers but not told how to decrypt them.
Nigel Smart, Professor of Cryptology in the Department of Computer Science at...
TechAndComputer (May 26, 2010) Imagine...
Nigel Smart, Professor of Cryptology in the Department of Computer Science at...
TechAndComputer (May 26, 2010) Imagine...
Sum of digits of prime numbers is evenly distributed: New mathematical proof of hypothesis
- 12 May 2010
- Editor
TechAndComputer (May 13, 2010) On average, there are as many prime numbers for which the sum of decimal digits is even as prime numbers for which it is odd. This hypothesis, first made in 1968, has recently been proven by researchers from the Institut de Mathématiques de Luminy (CNRS/Université de la Méditerranée).
A prime number is an integer greater than or equal to 2 that has exactly two distinct natural number divisors, 1 and itself. For...
TechAndComputer (May 13, 2010) On...
A prime number is an integer greater than or equal to 2 that has exactly two distinct natural number divisors, 1 and itself. For...
TechAndComputer (May 13, 2010) On...
NIST releases successor to venerable handbook of math functions
- 12 May 2010
- Editor
TechAndComputer (May 12, 2010) The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has released the Digital Library of Mathematical Functions (DLMF) and its printed companion, the NIST Handbook of Mathematical Functions, the much-anticipated successors to the agency's most widely cited publication of all time. These reference works contain a comprehensive set of tools useful for specialists who work with mathematical modeling and...
TechAndComputer (May 12, 2010) The National...
TechAndComputer (May 12, 2010) The National...
US needs better-trained math teachers to compete globally, study finds
- 15 April 2010
- Editor
TechAndComputer (Apr. 19, 2010) Math teachers in the United States need better training if the nation's K-12 students are going to compete globally, according to international research released by a Michigan State University scholar.
William Schmidt, University Distinguished Professor of education, found that prospective U.S. elementary and middle-school math teachers are not as prepared as those from other countries. And this, combined with a...
TechAndComputer (Apr. 19, 2010) Math...
William Schmidt, University Distinguished Professor of education, found that prospective U.S. elementary and middle-school math teachers are not as prepared as those from other countries. And this, combined with a...
TechAndComputer (Apr. 19, 2010) Math...
Modified home video game shows promise for improving hand function in teens with cerebral palsy
- 17 March 2010
- Editor
TechAndComputer (Mar. 17, 2010) Engineers at Rutgers University have modified a popular home video game system to help teenagers with cerebral palsy improve hand functions. In a pilot trial with three participants, the system improved the teens' abilities to perform a range of daily personal and household activities.
The modified system combined a Sony PlayStation 3 console and a commercial gaming glove with custom-developed software and games...
TechAndComputer (Mar. 17, 2010) ...
The modified system combined a Sony PlayStation 3 console and a commercial gaming glove with custom-developed software and games...
TechAndComputer (Mar. 17, 2010) ...
New teaching tools aid visually impaired students in learning math
- 15 March 2010
- Editor
TechAndComputer (Apr. 16, 2010) Mastering mathematics can be daunting for many children, but researchers have found that children with visual impairments face disproportionate challenges learning math, and by the time they reach the college level, they are significantly under-represented in science, technology, mathematics and engineering disciplines.
Researchers at the University of Illinois are helping shape the futures of children with...
TechAndComputer (Apr. 16, 2010) Mastering...
Researchers at the University of Illinois are helping shape the futures of children with...
TechAndComputer (Apr. 16, 2010) Mastering...
Professor predicts baseball winners, uses baseball to tout power of math
- 09 March 2010
- Editor
TechAndComputer (Mar. 10, 2010) With pitchers and catchers having recently reported to spring training, once again Bruce Bukiet, an associate professor at NJIT, has applied mathematical analysis to compute the number of games that Major League Baseball teams should win in 2010. The Philadelphia Phillies, St. Louis Cardinals and Los Angeles Dodgers should all repeat as winners in their divisions, while the Atlanta Braves will take the wild card...
TechAndComputer (Mar. 10, 2010) With...
TechAndComputer (Mar. 10, 2010) With...
Physicist writes a better formula to predict baseball success
- 01 March 2010
- Editor
TechAndComputer (Mar. 1, 2010) Kerry Whisnant, Iowa State University physicist, studies the mysteries of the neutrino, the elementary particle that usually passes right through ordinary matter such as baseballs and home-run sluggers.
Kerry Whisnant, St. Louis Cardinals fan, studies the mathematical mysteries of baseball, including a long look at how the distribution of a team's runs can affect the team's winning percentage.
Whisnant, a professor...
TechAndComputer (Mar. 1, 2010) ...
Kerry Whisnant, St. Louis Cardinals fan, studies the mathematical mysteries of baseball, including a long look at how the distribution of a team's runs can affect the team's winning percentage.
Whisnant, a professor...
TechAndComputer (Mar. 1, 2010) ...
Hastening progress of 3D cinema and TV
- 26 February 2010
- Editor
TechAndComputer (Feb. 27, 2010) This is the year in which 3D cinema and 3D TV will make the breakthrough. At CeBIT in Hannover, Fraunhofer researchers are presenting technologies and standards that are hastening the progress.
Strikers and defenders furiously compete for the ball. Suddenly, the forward drops into the penalty area. Penalty shot. The penalty taker carefully sets the ball just right. Cut to the goal camera. Like a cannon ball, the...
TechAndComputer (Feb. 27, 2010) This...
Strikers and defenders furiously compete for the ball. Suddenly, the forward drops into the penalty area. Penalty shot. The penalty taker carefully sets the ball just right. Cut to the goal camera. Like a cannon ball, the...
TechAndComputer (Feb. 27, 2010) This...
New approach to generating truly random numbers may improve Internet security, weather forecasts
- 22 February 2010
- Editor
TechAndComputer (Feb. 22, 2010) A new approach to generating truly random numbers could lead to improved Internet security and better weather forecasts, according to researchers writing in the International Journal of Critical Computer-Based Systems.
Random numbers are a critical part of computer and Internet security. They allow websites and browsers to encrypt the data sent between them using a session key. Weather forecasters, climate...
TechAndComputer (Feb. 22, 2010) A new...
Random numbers are a critical part of computer and Internet security. They allow websites and browsers to encrypt the data sent between them using a session key. Weather forecasters, climate...
TechAndComputer (Feb. 22, 2010) A new...
Computer games can teach schools some lessons
- 19 February 2010
- Editor
TechAndComputer (Mar. 2, 2010) Some parents might see video games as an impediment to children keeping up with their schoolwork. James Gee, however, thinks video games are some of the best learning environments around. He says that if schools adopted some of the strategies that games use, they could educate children more effectively.
"Commercial video games, the ones that make a lot of money, are nothing but problem-solving spaces," says Gee,...
TechAndComputer (Mar. 2, 2010) Some...
"Commercial video games, the ones that make a lot of money, are nothing but problem-solving spaces," says Gee,...
TechAndComputer (Mar. 2, 2010) Some...
Music, not gadgets, related to teenagers' headaches
- 08 February 2010
- Editor
TechAndComputer (Feb. 9, 2010) Use of most electronic media is not associated with headaches, at least not in adolescents. A study of 1025 13-17 year olds, published in the open access journal BMC Neurology, found no association between the use of computer games, mobile phones or television and the occurrence of headaches or migraines. However, listening to one or two hours of music every day was associated with a pounding head.
Astrid...
TechAndComputer (Feb. 9, 2010) Use of most...
Astrid...
TechAndComputer (Feb. 9, 2010) Use of most...
Believing stereotype undermines girls' math performance: Elementary school women teachers transfer their fear of doing math to girls, study finds
- 25 January 2010
- Editor
TechAndComputer (Jan. 26, 2010) Female elementary school teachers who are anxious about math pass on to female students the stereotype that boys, not girls, are good at math. Girls who endorse this belief then do worse at math, research at the University of Chicago shows.
These findings are the product of a year-long study on 17 first- and second-grade teachers and 52 boys and 65 girls who were their students. The researchers found that boys'...
TechAndComputer (Jan. 26, 2010) Female...
These findings are the product of a year-long study on 17 first- and second-grade teachers and 52 boys and 65 girls who were their students. The researchers found that boys'...
TechAndComputer (Jan. 26, 2010) Female...
New record in the area of prime number decomposition of cryptographically important numbers
- 08 January 2010
- Editor
TechAndComputer (Jan. 10, 2010) An international team of scientists from EPFL (Switzerland), INRIA (France), NTT (Japan), CWI (The Netherlands) and Bonn University (Germany), has obtained the prime factors of the RSA challenge number RSA-768, using the Number Field Sieve. The calculation took less than 2000 core years on modern CPUs.
Extrapolating the trend from previous records in this area (512-bit in 1999, 663-bit in 2005, and the current...
TechAndComputer (Jan. 10, 2010) An...
Extrapolating the trend from previous records in this area (512-bit in 1999, 663-bit in 2005, and the current...
TechAndComputer (Jan. 10, 2010) An...
Few gender differences in math abilities, worldwide study finds
- 05 January 2010
- Editor
TechAndComputer (Jan. 6, 2010) Girls around the world are not worse at math than boys, even though boys are more confident in their math abilities, and girls from countries where gender equity is more prevalent are more likely to perform better on mathematics assessment tests, according to a new analysis of international research.
"Stereotypes about female inferiority in mathematics are a distinct contrast to the actual scientific data," said...
TechAndComputer (Jan. 6, 2010) Girls...
"Stereotypes about female inferiority in mathematics are a distinct contrast to the actual scientific data," said...
TechAndComputer (Jan. 6, 2010) Girls...
Understanding interaction in virtual worlds
- 23 December 2009
- Editor
TechAndComputer (Dec. 23, 2009) New cinema blockbuster, Avatar, leapt to the top of box office charts as soon as it came out -- a stunning 3D realisation of an alien world. Our fascination with themes of escape to other fantastic places and the thrill of immersion in virtual environments also attracts millions to assume new identities in online virtual worlds.
Now researchers at The University of Nottingham, SRI International in Silicon Valley...
TechAndComputer (Dec. 23, 2009) New...
Now researchers at The University of Nottingham, SRI International in Silicon Valley...
TechAndComputer (Dec. 23, 2009) New...
Video games: Racing, shooting and zapping your way to better visual skills
- 17 December 2009
- Editor
TechAndComputer (Dec. 18, 2009) Do your kids want a Wii, a PlayStation or an Xbox 360 this year? This holiday gift season is packed with popular gaming systems and adrenaline-pumping, sharpshooting games. What's a parent to do? Is there any redeeming value in the hours that teens spend transfixed by these video games?
According to a new study in Current Directions in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science,...
TechAndComputer (Dec. 18, 2009) Do...
According to a new study in Current Directions in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science,...
TechAndComputer (Dec. 18, 2009) Do...