Double Maths First Thing is “Ruining Christmas”

Hello! My name is Colin and I am a mathematician on a mission to spread the joy and delight of mathematical thinking and practice.

I’m currently experiencing the joy of being told by Helen Arney that she liked I Like The Pope. Helen Arney liked my song! The whole Pseudorandom Ensemble show at MathsWorld was a blast, and we were glad to have Helen warm the crowd up for us. (She’s working on a musical about Cambridge’s first all-female fire brigade, which strikes me as a must-see. We’re available for future shows, do get in touch!

Links

In atlases you didn’t know you needed, here is an atlas of solutions to the three-body problem, which I gather causes Katie Steckles to swear (professionally). She and Alison Kiddle are continually creating 15-minute maths activities, which are for sale here. A more physical map: CASTLES!

A mathematician using their power for good: Alain Goriely debunking myths around the Parthenon’s optical illusions.

My periodic table senses tingle at this study on bobbin lace, which categorises patterns in such a way as to invent new ones. Speaking of combinatorics, John Carlos Baez is interested in some binomial coincidences.

Here’s Steve Mould showing off a Curta calculator. In other videos I mean to watch, here’s one about a spigot algorithm for pi, and one about counting nets from Another Roof (via Andrew Taylor).

And lastly, imagine the USA had a different number of states. Leaving aside the constitutional brouhaha that would ensue, the biggest question is: how would you arrange the stars on the flag?

Currently

Friend of the newsletter Peter Rowlett has a book (with Alex Corner) coming out in the new year.

Kit Yates is talking at the StratfordLiterary Festival on November 1st, 2-3pm UK time.

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