All you need to know about Math and Physics Connections.

General

A new game will be released at 8 PM EST every Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday.

Answers will be released on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, naturally.

You will have 4 attempts. This will be calibrated over time.

Point system

Every category is worth the same number of points.

Every correct category is worth 1 point.

If you correctly guess all categories in 1 try, your total score (4), will be multiplied by 3.1415 (pi). 2 tries, multiplied by 3 (speed of light). 3 tries, by 2.718 (Euler's number). 4 tries, 1.602 (mass of the electron).

If, after 4 attempts, you could not correctly guess all categories, you will earn 1 point for every correct category and 0.66 point (Planck's constant and the universal gravitational constant) for every 3/4-correct category. No multiplier.

Scenarios

All correct in 1 attempt: 12.566

All correct in 2 attempts: 12

All correct in 3 attempts: 10.872

All correct in 4 attempts: 6.408

2 correct, 2 3/4: 3.32

2 correct, 0 3/4: 2

1 correct, 3 3/4: 2.98

1 correct, 1 3/4: 1.66

1 correct, 0 3/4: 1

4 3/4: 2.64

3 3/4: 1.98

2 3/4: 1.32

1 3/4: 0.66

Note: 2 correct + 1 3/4 and 1 correct + 2 3/4 are not possible.

Prize

The winner at the end of every 2 weeks (6 games) will win a $100 micro-grant (or stipend, whatever you want to call it). Hopefully this can help someone buy a textbook or subsidize conference travel.

If there are ties, a winner is randomly selected.

Motivation behind making this Connections game

A lot of people outside academia spend their time learning math and physics. Many of them look for community on platforms like Reddit, Discord, etc. I hope a (challenging) game can lead to, and help maintain, a community.

Math and physics largely advanced hand in hand until the middle of the 19th century. Now, few physicists know about math concepts like, for example, the Langlands program and what it can bring to the physics table. Hopefully, exposing physicists to math that they wouldn't otherwise come across on a daily basis will lead to new connections. On the math side, I hope mathematicians can also learn something here about the applications of their work, other math fields or maybe find some surprising connections.