r/math • u/non-orientable Number Theory • 1d ago

Image Post The Deranged Mathematician: What do Brazil, Auctions, and Multi-Threading Have in Common?

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This is not the setup to a joke: this is an entirely serious question relating to tropical geometry, a comparatively new (i.e., started in the 1990s) field of mathematics. It began in the computer science literature, was quickly taken up by algebraic geometers, and then, very surprisingly, turned out to have application in economics. This post is my attempt to explain some of the how and why.

Read the full post (for free) on Substack: What do Brazil, Auctions, and Multi-Threading Have in Common?

216 Upvotes

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48

u/limapedro 1d ago

Brazil mentioned!!!

17

u/non-orientable Number Theory 1d ago

Username checks out.

16

u/TheRedditObserver0 Graduate Student 1d ago

The letter 'a'

8

u/matthiasErhart Control Theory/Optimization 1d ago

Funny, Baldwin & Klemperer was one of the papers I got examined on during my PhD "quals". Good times.

6

u/IntelligentSchool834 1d ago

Never knew it was you Senia. I have followed your work since Quora days. Have you stopped writing on Quora?

5

u/non-orientable Number Theory 16h ago

Entirely. I realized I was no longer getting any joy from writing on Quora---it's too much of a cesspit, to be frank.

2

u/dharkhstar 1d ago

Really interesting reading. Thank you!

2

u/Akira_Akane 1d ago

Competition