via NotCot.org
You're reading: Posts By Christian Lawson-Perfect
Much ado About Noether
Calvin Smith tweeted this morning to tell us that today is International Women’s Day, and took the opportunity to remind his followers of some of the women in the mathematical sciences. Stealing his idea Following his lead, we thought we would write a post on the theme.
The Aperiodical is of course a pro-everybody enterprise all year round, but it doesn’t hurt to take some time to remind ourselves of the fact that women are just as capable as men of contributing to the field of maths. Incredibly, some people still don’t think this is the case!
All Squared, Number 2 – Pancake formula
Here’s the second edition of our new podcast, All Squared. This time we talked to Dr Andrew Taylor, PhD, about nonsense formulas in the news. In particular, since we recorded very close to pancake day, we took a close look at the various “formulas for the perfect pancake” printed in UK newspapers.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: RSS | List of episodes
Newcastle MathsJam January & February 2013 recaps
I’ve finally finally got round to writing up my notes from the last two Newcastle MathsJams, over at my mathem-o-blog.
Möbius: the film
Mathematical concept + thriller plot = cinema gold. Everyone knows the formula.
This time, it’s the turn of the Möbius strip.
(this trailer is possibly not safe for work)
[youtube url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IhUk6ifllVM]
All Squared, Number 1: Maths out loud
We’ve been quietly making plans and gathering material for a new project over the past couple of weeks, after noticing that there’s an unusual paucity of maths podcasts at the moment. Well, that exciting new project is now happening, and it’s a half-hour podcast featuring maths, guests, puzzles and links from the internet. It’s called All Squared, and it’ll contain cringe-inducing intro/ending contrivances, interesting guest interviews on topical and other subjects, and a panoply of mathematical curiosities.
This is the first number of the podcast (we thought ‘episode’ would set unrealistic expectations of regularity, and we can never resist a pun). It includes an interview with Edmund Harriss about spoken mathematics, as well as a puzzle which we’ll give the answer to in the next number, and a great mathematical flash game to keep you occupied until that appears.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: RSS | List of episodes
LMS 150 Year Impact Assessment
The London Mathematical Society will be 150 years old in a couple of years, and we mathematicians always bang on about how maths takes a long time to have impact in the wider world, so they’re asking for examples of maths done in the last 150 years that’s had an impact outside academia.
Read more about it at the start of the February newsletter (PDF), or email John Greenlees at Sheffield if you’ve got any ideas. Thinking up suitable examples might be a good way of taking your mind off the REF, if you’re currently grappling with that particular fractal of bad ideas.