Remember this time last year, when we had a chat with Samuel Hansen for their amazing Relatively Prime podcast? We discussed our collective hobby of getting angry at stupid formulae in the news, and how it sometimes crosses over with the festive season. Listen again below. This post is part of the Aperiodical’s 2018 Aperiodvent Calendar.
Aperiodvent, Day 15: Mathematical Present Wrapping video
In the viral YouTube hit of Christmas 2015, Katie Steckles demonstrates some of the most mathematically satisfying ways you can wrap your Christmas presents.
Aperiodvent, Day 14: Dodecahedron star lantern
If you manage to dismiss all the ads, the blog Happiness is Homemade has a post which shows you how to make a cool dodecahedral star lantern out of paper (and glue, and you’ll need a light source too if you want it to actually function as a lantern). This post is part of the…
Aperiodvent, Day 13: Fold-and-Cut Christmas Tree
The fold and cut theorem, which states that, after sufficient folding, any shape made of straight lines can be cut out of a piece of paper in one cut, is probably the most crafts-friendly result in all of maths. Inspired by The Aperiodical’s very own Katie Steckles’ video on the subject, Sam Hartburn has created…
Registration for 2019 Alan Turing Cryptography Competition and MathsBombe is open
The Alan Turing Cryptography Competition, now in its 7th year, is an online competition run by the University of Manchester School of Mathematics, for school students up to year 11 or equivalent. Cryptographic puzzles are released every couple of weeks and teams of up to four compete to solve the puzzles, with prizes for the fastest and other randomly selected correct entries. Registrations are open now, and the competition starts on 28th January 2019.
For sixth form pupils, there is also MathsBombe – an online competition, with two mathematical puzzles released every fortnight. The puzzles are not directly related to the A-Level syllabus but will require students to use their problem-solving skills.
Further information
Aperiodvent, Day 12: Fractal Christmas Trees
If you’re looking for a fun hands-on project that’s mathematical and Christmassy, look no further than Think Maths‘ classic Fractal Christmas trees – building a Sierpinski tetrahedron tree, Menger Sponge base and Koch Snowflake star.
Christmas images using parabolic curves and TikZ
Katie is running an Aperiodical advent calendar (Aperiodvent 2018), with fun maths Christmas treats every day. Behind the door for 7th December was Parabolic Sewing. This is not unrelated to what I submitted as my entry to The Big Internet Math-Off last summer. I have been revisiting this idea ready for a class next week…