The original version of this story appeared in Quanta Magazine. Computer scientists often deal with abstract problems that are hard to comprehend, but an exciting new algorithm matters to anyone who ...

I’ve been waiting for good book that introduces the concepts of data science and machine learning for a lay audience. There’s so much being reported on these subjects nowadays that I’m sure many ...

An algorithm that predicts bestselling books has awarded a perfect score to The Circle by Dave Eggers, a book that just so happens to be a dystopian satire of life in Silicon Valley. Hmm. Said ...

To the horror of readers everywhere, computer scientists have developed an algorithm they say can predict the commercial viability of a book, with an 84 percent success rate, based solely on the style ...

We’re suckers for the kind of “life hacks” that tell you that you’ve been doing some relatively mundane task all wrong, and that there’s a super-easy alternative which can massively speed up your ...

How Hansel and Gretel, Sherlock Holmes, the movie Groundhog Day, Harry Potter, and other familiar stories illustrate the concepts of computing. Picture a computer scientist, staring at a screen and ...

A rare 175 year-old book containing the world's first computer algorithm by Ada Lovelace – mathematician and daughter of Lord Byron – has been sold at auction in England for £95,000 (US$125,000). Only ...

Knowing when to hold 'em, and when to fold 'em is one of life's perpetual mysteries. If you have a mathematical inclination, or a bent for probabilities, this book might well catalyze a turning point ...

When I received the Brooklyn Public Library’s recent email newsletter promoting a new service called BookMatch, I was both delighted and dismayed. On the one hand, it was a great idea. All I had to do ...