Would you be interested in taking part in a sort of online video-chat seminar about recreational maths? Then read on!
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Land of the Rising Sums by Alex Bellos on Radio 4
You’ll probably want to listen to this programme presented by Alex Bellos.
Alex Bellos visits Japan, on a quest to discover why Asian cultures seem so much better at maths and numbers than many western countries. He looks at the cultural difference in the Japanese approach to numbers and asks whether there is something fundamental in Japanese culture that keeps them at the upper end of international numeracy league tables. Alex explores the language used to describe numbers themselves, the songs taught in schools to teach children their times tables, and the passion the Japanese still show for the ancient but foolproof abacus, even in the computer age. He visits the national abacus competition in Kyoto to see the incredible mathematical feats achieved by children as young as 5 and discovers why abacus users actually use a different part of the brain to most people doing mathematical problems, and whether this could be the key to their superior number skills.
It’s on iPlayer Radio, so should be available to you no matter where in the world you are.
Math/Maths 118: An 11.5 microhertz Domputer
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 couldn’t speak but Peter spoke to Matt Parker and Katie Steckles about the Domputer, an attempt to build a computer from 10,000 dominoes at the Manchester Science Festival.
Get this episode: Math/Maths 118: An 11.5 microhertz Domputer
National Numeracy Challenge for working adults
A new ((Relatively new, they were launched in March.)) charity called National Numeracy has launched a campaign to
produce a positive transformation of public attitudes to numeracy and mathematics in the UK, to create an “I can do maths” approach and to raise the numeracy skills of at least 500,000 adults of working age to Level 1 or Level 2 where appropriate.
Travelling Salesman Movie UK screening in Cambridge
Plus Magazine tweeted to say that they’re showing the Travelling Salesman Movie chez eux in November. Tickets £7.50, 6.30pm on the 20th of November.
I thought we’d posted about the movie before but a search of the archives turned up nothing, so here’s the trailer:
[youtube url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ybd5rbQ5rU]
If that looks like your cup of tea (or N-tea), you can book tickets at the University of Cambridge online store.
More information
Travelling Salesman Movie official site
‘Travelling Salesman’, Tuesday 20 November 2012 at Plus Magazine
The petition to put Alan Turing on the £10 note has received a response
The petition to put Alan Turing on the next £10 note has received over 22,000 signatures, which triggered a response from the Government:
The Bank of England has been including historic characters on its notes since 1970. The Bank welcomes suggestions from members of the public for individuals who might feature on future banknotes, and publishes a list of these suggestions on its website. These suggestions inform the process when a new note is under consideration.
The mathematician and cryptographer Alan Turing features on the list which can be found at:
http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/banknotes/Documents/about/banknote_names.pdfThis e-petition remains open to signatures and will be considered for debate by the Backbench Business Committee should it pass the 100 000 signature threshold.
So it might yet happen. The bit at the end about 100,000 signatures being enough to put the petition before the Backbench Business Committee is boilerplate for petitions on direct.gov.uk – I don’t think the Bank of England needs new legislation to dictate who goes on the notes.
As well as Turing, the names of three other mathematicians are on the list being considered by the Bank – Mary Somerville, Charles Babbage and James Clerk Maxwell.
The Aperiodical is half!
Exactly six months ago, we launched The Aperiodical. Since then, we’ve published 523 posts to 115,000 visitors; been slashdotted, Hacker Newsed, and reddited; mentioned on Radio 4; got to the bottom of a mystery; been inordinately proud of a new set of fonts; published pieces by 11 guest authors; and laughed all the way to the bank. Except the last one.
We thought we’d take this opportunity to gather together some of the best bits of the first six months of this venture, and reflect on what’s gone wrong and what’s gone right.