Double Maths First Thing is giving up sacrifice for Lent

Hello! My name is Colin and I am a mathematician on a mission to spread joy and delight in doing and understanding maths. I’ve given a few classes this week where a student has suddenly lit up with an “I get it!” and it’s the most rewarding thing about tutoring.

It’s half term this week, which means I’m out of routine, but I’m being contrarian and trying very hard to get on top of my to-do list. This includes “put some links together for DMFT”, so let’s get on with that, eh?

Links

In “things I’ve not read but I can envisage DMFT readers finding interesting”, Vincent Rolfs finds some links between the Collatz conjecture and the Fibonacci sequence.

Current favourite daily game: Clues by Sam, a logical whodunnit.

We (apparently) had Valentine’s Day last week. That can mean only one thing: cardioids! (Jenny Power has thoughts about how to draw a heart correctly, and it’s about the most joyful thing I’ve seen this week.)

I know I’ve linked to Singmaster’s Gazetteer at least twice before; there’s definitely space for more mathematical maps, and the Royal Society is creating one celebrating women in STEM. Contribute!

This is a lovely thread exploring the basins of attraction for Newton Wars.

Currently

If you’re in a position to sponsor Electromagnetic Field, you definitely should.

I missed that Laura has posted Carnival #248 at Letters and Words. Go to the Carnival page to submit items for next month’s post, which will be hosted by Tony Mann.

There’s also a Finite Group live stream today (Wednesday February 18th) at 4pm UK time. Hurry and you’ll catch it!

That’s all I’ve got for this week. If you have friends and/or colleagues who would enjoy Double Maths First Thing, do send them the link to sign up – they’ll be very welcome here.

If you’ve missed the previous issues of DMFT or – somehow – this one, you can find the archive courtesy of my dear friends at the Aperiodical.

Meanwhile, if there’s something I should know about, you can find me on Mathstodon as @icecolbeveridge, or at my personal website. You can also just reply to this email if there’s something you want to tell me.

Until next time,

C