Instead users are rewarded in a process called "mining", in which coins are issued to a user when they solve a complicated mathematical problem using their computer.

BBC: Skype trojan forces Bitcoin mining, security firm warns

Instead they are created in a process called "mining", in which coins are issued to a user when they solve a complicated mathematical problem using their computer.

BBC: Bitcoins

Two weeks ago a team led by Isaac Chuang at IBM (nyse: IBM - news - people) disclosed that it had built a 5-qubit quantum computer and used it to solve a relatively simple mathematical problem.

FORBES: Atoms Offer Giant Leap In Computing Power

"What the 1992 semi-final did was highlight the fact that a logical and mathematical approach was needed to solve the problem, " said Duckworth, currently with the Royal Society of Statisticians.

BBC: Duckworth hits back at SA

The field of DNA computing was kicked off in 1994 when Leonard Adleman used strands of DNA to solve a simple example of a mathematical conundrum known as the Travelling Salesman Problem.

BBC: Processing power of single cells

This is a mathematical problem, and eCourier spent some time hunting around for someone able to solve it.

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