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Media Advisory 14-017
2014-2015 NSF distinguished lectures in mathematical and physical sciences
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The figure illustrates a minimal surface, the shape, for instance, of a soap film suspended from a wire at the edge of the surface. Study of minimal surfaces is one example of a class of mathematical problems called optimization problems, which arise in a wide range of practical applications, including physics, chemistry, nanotechnology, biology and architecture.
Credit: Matthias Weber, Indiana University
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