The economist Harry Markowitz won the Nobel prize for designing a complex mathematical formula for picking fund managers.

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Other scientists will now try to translate what he's learned into mathematical formula that keep fast-moving robots from crushing their heads on low ceilings.

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The company also began testing a mathematical formula to try to predict which employees are most likely to leave, based on factors like employee reviews.

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"Between what I read and know, I come up with who I think the favorites should be, and then I compile the odds based on mathematical formula, " says Avello.

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Adam Cahan, a Yahoo senior vice president, said in an interview on Monday that Mr. D'Aloisio was an "exceptional" talent and that Yahoo did "extensive" testing of Summly's algorithm, or mathematical formula, for condensing news articles.

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But there are seeds, too, in the very nature of things: a promise, after all, is only a promise, even when it is supported by divine revelation, and the chances against its fulfillment may be put into a depressing mathematical formula.

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According to an ongoing investigation by the Washington Post, who initiated the McColo shutdown, the Srizbi bots have been programmed with a mathematical formula that in the event of a shutdown generate a random but unique web address to check for updates.

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Eventually it found a team led by Cynthia Barnhard, a logistics expert at America's Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which devised an elaborate algorithm that is now at the heart of eCourier's business, in much the same way that a mathematical formula drives Google's search engine.

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Duckworth-Lewis, named after the two statisticians who came up with the formula, is the mathematical way that cricket works out the result of a rain-affected match.

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