Behind every great company and scientific theory, mathematics has always been involved.James Harris Simons, a mathematician dubbed the “Quant King,” said he could not emphasize enough how important the application of math is for everything, ranging from basic scientific research to starting a business.Today’s inventions such as Google search and digital communications have been created with the use of mathematics. James Simons. (International Mathematical Union)“Math is in just about everything.

Maryam Mirzakhani, the first female mathematician to win the Fields Medal, the most prestigious honor in mathematics, said confidence is what it takes to make such achievements. “Confidence is what makes a big difference,” said the mathematician at a press conference at the 2014 International Congress of Mathematicians in Seoul on Wednesday. “It is not your talent, but about thinking that you can do it.” The Fields Medal is an award created to commemorate John Charles Fields, a world-renown Cana

Kakao Talk, South Korea’s largest mobile messenger, is taking aim at the Middle East by scaling up its Arabic language services.The mobile application was the most popular free mobile messenger in 2011 in some Middle Eastern nations, including Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Kuwait and the UAE, according to Kakao. However, it was soon outpaced by global social networking service messengers, such as Google Hangouts, Facebook Messenger, and Naver’s Line. As part of its efforts to regain its footing in the

Merck Korea, the Korean branch of Germany-based chemical firm Merck Group, said Thursday that it would join “Take the Next Baby Steps,” an annual campaign cosponsored by its headquarters, to show its support for couples struggling with infertility. Designed to help raise more awareness on infertility, the campaign is cosponsored by the Asia Pacific Initiative on Reproduction, the Korea Society for Reproductive Medicine and Merck Serono, the pharmaceutical business unit of Merck Group. It will ki

우버코리아 강경훈 대표는 코리아헤럴드와의 인터뷰에서 “우버 서비스는 택시 업계에 긍정적인 영향을 끼칠 것,”이라고 말하며 택시 업계에 여전히 존재하는 문제점들에 대한 대안이 될 수 있을 것이라고 예상했다.서울시를 비롯해 택시 업계도 많은 노력을 기울여오고 있지만, 심야 승차 거부, 심야 시간 과속, 여성 고객에 대한 안전 문제, 외국인에 대한 승차 거부, 과다 운임 등 해결 되지 않고 있는 문제들이 있는 것이 현실이므로 우버가 이런 문제들에 대한 해결책을 일정 부분 제시하고 있다는 것이 강 대표의 설명이다.“변화가 없으면 발전도 없다고 생각한다,”며 의견을 밝힌 강 대표는 우버 서비스가 승객과 운전자 모두에게 상호 보완이 될 수 있을 것이라 확신했다. 우버코리아 강경훈 대표 (코리아헤럴드/박현구기자)스마트폰 앱을 이용하여 차량을 연결해 주는 새로운 서비스 비즈니스의 모델이라는 점에서 정부가 추진 중인 창조경제의 기조와 맞닿아 있다는 것이 업계의 시각이다.강 대표는 “우버앱이 시민들

Controversy over Uber’s car-booking services is spreading like wildfire here following Seoul City’s decision to team up with related government bodies including the Korea Communications Commission to keep the U.S. firm out of the local transportation market. The city government has said it would try to stop Uber’s operations in Seoul, claiming that the services are illegal. “Seoul City will push for stricter measures, including fines for more Uber drivers, in order to ban the illegal ride-sharin

Hanwha Group has teamed up with robotics researchers at Hanyang University to introduce the world’s first wireless control system for excavators this year. The tele-operation system, called the Ghost, consists of three parts ― a wireless foot pedal, lever and portable controller. It enables users to remotely operate the digger from a distance of up to 100 meters.The company has now inked a 1 billion won ($970,000) deal with a Singaporean company to supply the wireless excavator controllers.“Hanw

Beleaguered by the challenges posed by its Chinese rivals coupled with worsening profits, Samsung Electronics is making efforts to cut costs by expanding its overseas production lines. According to recent news reports, Samsung Electronics is planning to make a $375 million investment in the Dube TradePort special economic zone, located near the city of Durban, South Africa, to construct a TV plant. “We have worked with Samsung and they identified the Dube TradePort as a space to operate from,” t

Kakao Corp., the operator of Korea’s most-used mobile messenger Kakao Talk, is aiming to expand its character business based on its stickers ― emoticons going by the name of Kakao Friends ― used in chat services. Kakao, which sells a variety of character products from notebooks to dolls, has recently teamed up with baked-goods maker SHANY, an affiliate of SPC Group, to produce Kakao Friends Bread, featuring mobile characters including Muji, a yellow radish in a bunny costume, Apeach the peach, a

Samsung Group is said to be carrying out a sweeping “management assessment” on underperforming affiliates in the electronics sector in the wake of the second-quarter earnings shock of its cash cow Samsung Electronics.The audit division under Samsung’s Corporate Strategy Office, the conglomerate’s control tower, has recently began a review on Samsung Electro-Mechanics, a manufacturer of smartphone camera modules, according to Samsung Group.The latest move is just another in a series of management

Corporate Korea is lagging behind in using big data in day-to-day business, according to a recent survey compiled by The Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry.The organization said Monday that among the 500 Korean firms participating in the survey, only 7.5 percent said they used big data in their business activities, while 81.6 percent responded that they do not use it at all. The most frequent use of big data is for marketing. Of companies that used big data, 47 percent used it for this purpo