Friend-in-good-standing of The Aperiodical, Matt Parker, has something big planned for Manchester Science Festival and he needs your help.
Matt is trying to build a computer out of dominoes.
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Geogebra for the iPad Kickstarter
GeoGebra is a surprisingly capable piece of free dynamic maths software, used widely by teachers and geometry aficionados. We haven’t discussed it here before, but people have created some really nice interactive tools with it, so we might do a round-up in the near future.
Earlier in the year, the developers released an HTML5 version of GeoGebra, dropping the dependency on Java, which means it works on new-fangled devices such as the iPad through the web browser. Now, following queries about a GeoGebra iPad App from “many people”, a Kickstarter project is trying to raise funds to develop a native iPad App, to be available for free from the Apple App Store.
They don’t say how the iPad app will be different to the HTML5 one, but I assume it’ll make use of the native controls and widgets to present a smoother interface. They could probably do with providing a bit more information to encourage interested parties to cough up the $10,000 they’re asking for. Right now they’re at just over $2,500.
Fellow Androidists can be reassured: the FAQ says that they are planning on getting round to “other platforms” once the iPad version is done.
Kickstarter: GeoGebra for the iPad.
More information:
Geogebra.org
Geogebra Chrome app
The Bletchley Circle: codebreaking thriller on ITV1
ITV will show a new period drama called The Bletchley Circle from Thursday 6th September at 9pm on ITV1. According to the Milton Keynes Citizen, the story “follows the lives of four fictional women whose brilliant work at Bletchley Park during WWII helped to smash codes used by the German military.”
Susan, Millie, Lucy and Jean are back living normal lives, but behind Susan’s conventional exterior as a 1950s housewife and mother is a steely determination that really shouldn’t be under-estimated.
The unresolved murders of Jane Hart and Patricia Oakes bring Susan’s detective skills to the fore once more, and armed with handwritten charts of numbers, dates and times, she spots a pattern of behaviour that no-one else has seen…
The Milton Keynes Citizen quotes Laura Mackie, part of the ITV Drama Commissioning team, saying “The Bletchley Circle combines a vivid portrait of post-war Britain with a taut and original codebreaking thriller”. Here’s a very short trailer for the show:
Source: More drama at Bletchley Park! – Milton Keynes Citizen.
More info: The Bletchley Circle on ITV.com
Ri grants for UK schools mathematics enrichment activity
The Royal Institution of Great Britain are offering 72 grants of up to £500 for schools for mathematics enrichment activity. These are available to UK teachers of mathematics to primary or secondary aged pupils to support activities from the STEM Directories, a list of enrichment schemes, in the 2012-2013 academic year.
‘Enrichment’ is activity that is relevant to the subject being taught but that doesn’t directly address the curriculum – for example, through more depth, a broader coverage or additional subject areas. Grants will be allocated in two stages. Applications to round 1 close on Wednesday 26 September 2012 and round 2 on Friday 30 November 2012. The grants are funded by The Clothworkers’ Foundation.
More information: The Royal Institution of Great Britain Grants (NCETM).
Game of Life: a play
A new play called Game of Life is to be performed from 5th-22nd September at The Yard in Hackney Wick in London. It will apparently “bring to life a scientific theory: the phenomenon of ‘emergence’, and Conway’s ‘game of life’ — an elegant mathematical model simulating birth, death and survival”.
Math/Maths 110: Subtraction is a both brain activity
A new episode of the Math/Maths Podcast has been released.
A conversation about mathematics between the UK and USA from Pulse-Project.org. This week Samuel and Peter spoke about: A clue to solving Kryptos; The Game of Life: The Play; The Bletchley Circle; Mathalicious: the Video Series; Geogebra for the iPad Kickstarter; Math Requires Crosstalk in the Brain; Information and Inference: a Journal of the IMA; Maths and Sport and Plus on the Paralympics; and more.
Get this episode: Math/Maths 110: Subtraction is a both brain activity
Ada Lovelace Day Live!
Ada Lovelace Day Live! is “an evening of fun, inspiration and robots” in London in October. The website offers this description:
Join Helen Arney, Dr Suzie Sheehy, Gia Milinovich, Dr Helen Scales, Helen Keen, Dr Alice Bell, Sarah Angliss and Sydney Padua for an entertaining evening of science, technology, comedy and song on Ada Lovelace Day. Featuring all manner of wonders, from marine biology and particle physics to the secrets of fridges and performance robots, Ada Lovelace Day Live! is an event not to be missed!
Ada Lovelace Day is an international day celebrating the achievements of women in science, technology, engineering and maths. The event is also supported by the Women’s Engineering Society, who will be presenting the Karen Burt Memorial Award to a newly chartered woman engineer.
The event takes place on Tuesday 16 October 2012 at 6.30pm at the IET in London. Tickets cost £10.
More information: Ada Lovelace Day Live!