AMS Congressional Briefing

The Necessity of Mathematics: 
From Google to Counterterrorism to Sudoku

Amy Langville, professor of mathematics at the College of Charleston, spoke to Congressional representatives on Capitol Hill on November 16, 2006 about the role mathematics plays in some of today's technologies.  Her presentation included illustrations of the mathematics behind Google, Sudoku, counterterrorism, email surveillance, and military flight plans.

Mathematics is the enabling discipline for many of the technologies that we enjoy today, as well as being critical to national security.  Mathematics is needed for deciphering the complicated and tangled communication networks of terrorists; for managing the world's largest document collection, the World Wide Web; and for formulating something as routine as the daily Sudoku puzzle found in newspapers around the globe.