Double Maths First Thing is looking forward to the cricket
Hello! My name is Colin and I am a mathematician on a mission to spread the joy and delight of doing maths, solving puzzles, and feeling really clever about it.
This week, we’re planning to take a trip to Worcester to watch a cricket match. The last time I tried that was when the 11yo was three, and it bucketed down all day. A lot of maths in cricket, you know.
Links
How many ways are there to place two knights on a chessboard so they attack each other? Susam Pal has an answer.
Some things I’ve simply never understood. For example, Why the Metropolis-Hastings algorithm works. Gregory Gundersen knows! But the other question is, why do I always think “but Hastings is a medium-sized seaside town, not a metropolis.”?
I really enjoyed Scott Sexton’s piece about applying vector calculus to topographical data to find out where it makes sense to build things.
This may not be strictly mathematical, but I found it interesting all the same: how to lay out stones in a mosaic to emphasise the edges of what you’re trying to depict.
Karen Campe has important notes on building a network of maths people, and pays tribute to her late friend Shelli. I’m sorry for her loss.
Currently
We’re a week out from TMiP! I’ve been banging on about the Pseudorandom Ensemble show for ages, but I should probably highlight that it’s also a good conference for anyone who enjoys talking maths in public. Or hanging out with the kind of people who do.
If you’ve got posts for the Carnival of Mathematics, use that link to send them my way for this month’s blog post.
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