Computer technology is evolving at a rapid pace, but have you ever wondered how computer scientists are able to make the devices we use on a every day basis so fast? How do machine learning computers and artificial intelligence work at such a high capacity? The work of theoretical computer scientists, that use math instead of programming to provide a rigorous framework for understanding what computation is, how it can be performed, and what its limitations are. In a first for Science Like Me, two guests... postdoctoral research scientist Yinzhan Xu and Ph.D. student Chris Ye discuss their theoretical computer science work with EnCORE, the Institute for Emerging CORE Methods in Data Science and how by applying math to find different ways of solving problems and making computations more efficient. (#40378)