Feature

Safety in Numbers

Mathematics offers innovative weapons for fighting terrorism

By Laura Sanders

- More than 2 years ago

Mathematicians don’t wear capes and tights. They are not more powerful than a locomotive and they can’t leap tall buildings in a single bound. But when it comes to protecting people from evildoers, these calculating crusaders could turn out to be super.

SAFETY IN NUMBERS A new algorithm uses the location of blasts (red) from improved explosive devices to deduce the hiding places of weapons caches (yellow) in Baghdad.