An analysis published in The Atlantic sought to test a hypothesis whether Mitt Romney’s Twitter followers are real or whether they display ‘bot-like’ behaviour. This follows a sudden recent spike in followers to his account. The same analysis was completed for Barack Obama’s account as well. So, are Mitt and Barack’s followers real?
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2011 Census figures released
The RSS are reporting that the first figures from the 2011 Census have been released. The big headline is population growth – an increase of 3.7 million (7.1%) since 2001. Other than that,
other key figures in the release show that the percentage of people aged 65 and over was the highest seen in any previous census, standing at 16.4 per cent. The median age of the population was 39 and there were 3.5 million children under five years of age.
While all regions have experienced population growth, the highest was in London, which gained more than 850,000 residents, an increase of 11.6 per cent.
Data from Northern Ireland’s census was also released today, revealing that its population is also the highest it’s ever been, at 1,810,900. The first release of Scottish data from the 2011 census is scheduled for December 2012.
Source: First figures from the 2011 Census released.
Find out more: First release of 2011 census data from the Office of National Statistics.
International Maths Olympiad results
We’re a bit late on this one but it’s still of interest: the 53rd International Mathematical Olympiad took place in Mar Del Plata, Argentina a couple of weeks ago. The event was hosted by the University of Buenos Aires together with the Argentine National Ministries of Education and of Science, Technology and Productive Innovation.
No fuss was made on the IMO’s official site after the event apart from the addition of a column to the results table. The top three countries were South Korea, China and the USA, with the UK coming 23rd, still ahead of Germany and France, in 31st and 39th places, respectively.
Keith Devlin’s Mathematical Thinking MOOC opens for registrations
Prof Keith Devlin of Stanford University is running a Massively Open Online Course (MOOC) on Coursera, titled “Introduction to Mathematical Thinking“, with a stated goal to “help you develop a valuable mental ability – a powerful way of thinking that our ancestors have developed over three thousand years.”
MOOCs are big news, lately, with a popular AI course offered for free online by Sebastian Thrun from Stanford last year. Of course, distance learning and the ability to put course materials online are not new. “So”, asks Devlin in his May 2012 MAA column, “what has changed now?”
Understanding maths ‘more important than learning by rote’ shocker
A study by Oxford University’s Department of Education and reported in the Telegraph claims that “those who were good at maths reasoning aged eight tended to do better at the subject in future years than classmates who simply knew their numbers”.
This is pitched as a challenge to the current Government move towards rote learning of arithmetic in order to develop “fluency” ahead of studying algebra.
Study author Peter Bryant is quoted by the Times Educational Supplement saying,
Both arithmetic and maths reasoning are important and necessary, but we think there is a danger of maths reasoning moving out. I am not trying to say don’t teach times tables or procedures; it is important to have them. But it is possible to leave out maths reasoning and teach calculation, while you can’t teach reasoning without children being able to calculate.
Sources:
Telegraph: Understanding maths ‘more important than learning by rote’.
TES: Rote learning equals maths confusion.
Report: The relative importance of two different mathematical abilities to mathematical achievement in the British Journal of Psychology.
The Alan Turing (Statutory Pardon) Bill first reading
As was hinted at in a debate in Parliament to mark the centenary of Turing’s birth, a private members’ bill has been introduced in the House of Lords seeking a pardon for Turing – and Turing alone – for his conviction of gross indecency when homosexual acts were illegal in the UK.
The bill has been introduced by Liberal Democrat Peer Lord Sharkey, and the BBC reports that the Lib Dem MP John Leech has said he will take the bill through the House of Commons to make it law.
The Alan Turing (Statutory Pardon) Bill is summarised on the Parliament website:
To give a statutory pardon to Alan Mathison Turing for offences under section 11 of the Criminal Law Amendment Act 1885 of which he was convicted on 31 March 1952.
Meanwhile, the relevant e-petition has surpassed 35,000 signatures.
Source: Alan Turing pardon campaign goes to House of Lords on BBC News.
More information: Alan Turing (Statutory Pardon) Bill on parliament.uk with debate schedule.
Number Gossip has been killed. Can you help?
For several years, Tanya Khovanova’s Number Gossip was an invaluable resource for maths fans whenever they found themselves saying, “that looks like a special number!” It was a simple list of integers and all the interesting facts known about each one; there were prime numbers, odd numbers, evil numbers, perfect numbers, and countless facts about unique properties of numbers.