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An NFL Lineman Just Published A Ridiculously Intricate Math Study

by Adam Silvers
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John Urschel is an offensive lineman for the Baltimore Ravens.

He also happens to be something of a mathematics whiz.

The Penn State grad is just a few months removed from finishing his NFL rookie season, and he recently cowrote a paper in the Journal of Computational Mathematics titled “A Cascadic Multigrid Algorithm for Computing the Fiedler Vector of Graph Laplacians.”

Ya, I have no idea either.

It will come as a shock to no one Urschel, known as @MathMeetsFball on Twitter, had a 4.0 GPA at Penn State and has been published before.

In addition to his recent “Multigrid Algorithm,” Urschel also wrote a piece for The Players' Tribune, detailing his love for hitting people during games, as well as his concerns over his “long-term mental health" -- particularly in regard to a “bright career ahead of [him] in mathematics.”

From chess tournaments to algorithms, Urschel is single-handedly erasing athlete stereotypes.

My paper, A Cascadic Multigrid Algorithm for Computing the Fiedler Vector..., has been published in the Journal of Computational Mathematics — John Urschel (@MathMeetsFball) March 18, 2015
My newest @PlayersTribune article is out. Theres no math, just an honest conversation about why I STILL play football http://t.co/sEUraZb8sx — John Urschel (@MathMeetsFball) March 18, 2015
Happy Pi Day!!!! Take some time to check out all of its properties and the amazing things it's involved in. My favorite is Euler's identity. — John Urschel (@MathMeetsFball) March 14, 2015
Had a great time talking to the advanced statistics class at Bunn High School today!Go Wildcats!!! pic.twitter.com/znroTgQmKV — John Urschel (@MathMeetsFball) March 11, 2015
Just finished my first chess tournament ever. Scored 3 points in five rounds in the U1700 of the Pittsburgh Open!!! — John Urschel (@MathMeetsFball) March 8, 2015

Here's an example of just how complex the math is:

Bloomberg

Citations: One of the Baltimore Ravens Just Published an Insanely Complex Study in a Math Journal (Bloomberg)