[youtube url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQtJMOAsjdA]
You're reading: Yearly Archives: 2013
Not Mentioned on the Aperiodical this month, 21 August
Here are three things we noticed this month which didn’t get a proper write-up, due to thesis/Edinburgh fringe/holidays: a big proof, a fun maths book club, and a ridiculous bit of pi-related madhattery.
iPad apps for university mathematics teaching: your suggestions please
New game, everyone! Work have bought me an iPad. I have so far discovered this is basically a touch screen interface through which I can write email, read Twitter and play pinball, but I’ve heard a rumour that it can do even more than that. I’d like you to suggest what else I might do with it.
Manchester MathsJam recap, August 2013
This month we had a few new faces, and plenty of regulars. We also had someone’s first MathsJam, and someone’s last (in the UK): Manchester regular Nicolette brought along her 6-week old baby Julia, who experienced her first recreational maths night in a pub, and by this time next month Nicolette will be back in her native New Zealand (obviously, setting up a new MathsJam there).
Julia Robinson and Hilbert’s Tenth Problem, by George Csicsery
Over on Google+, David Roberts just posted this trailer (via Антид Ото) to a lovely documentary about Julia Robinson and her contributions towards answering Hilbert’s tenth problem.
[youtube url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4x9XKNAYjU]
David Hilbert’s tenth problem was to find an algorithm to solve diophantine equations, that is, to find roots of polynomials with integer coefficients. We now know that the problem is unsolvable in general, and Julia Robinson did a lot of the work to get there; she wrote that she “couldn’t bear to die without knowing the answer.”
David asked if anyone knows of any present-day female mathematicians of similar standing to Julia Robinson. Apart from President of the IMU Ingrid Daubechies and people who are active on Twitter my knowledge of top mathmos is quite poor, so I thought I’d open the question up to The Aperiodical’s readers.
The full DVD of Julia Robinson and Hilbert’s Tenth Problem is available from George Csicsery’s ZALA Films site, and it looks like there are a few copies on Amazon as well.
Explaining things
I have discovered, or perhaps learned how to articulate, something fundamental: I like explaining things. Allow me to explain.
Carnival of Mathematics #101: Prime Numbered Special Edition
Welcome to the 101st edition of the Carnival of Mathematics. The Aperiodical took over running the Carnival when it launched in April 2012, at Carnival 85. Although it’s conventional to celebrate round number anniversaries (and even though I’m left-handed), we decided for a combination of reasons not to make a big deal out of Carnival 100 – instead inviting maths author Richard Elwes to host it on his blog – and instead to make the more exciting number 101 into our big celebration of how long the Carnival’s been running.