Custody in recomposed families is complex network problem
Friday, February 21, 2014 - 09:30
in Physics & Chemistry
Physics can provide insights into societal trends. Problems involving interactions between people linked in real-life networks can be better understood by using physical models. As a diversion from his normal duties as a theoretical physicist, Andrés Gomberoff from the Andres Bello University in Santiago, Chile, set out to resolve one of his real-life problems: finding a suitable weekend for both partners in his recomposed family to see all their children at the same time. He then joined forces with a mathematician and a complex systems expert. This resulted in a study published in European Physical Journal B, showing that solving this problem essentially equates to minimising the energy in a material model.
