This is a guest post by Martin Whitworth. I am the organiser of Cheltenham MathsJam, and I am a fan of our local Cheltenham Festivals. In addition to successful Jazz, Music and Literature Festivals, they have an annual Science Festival with high profile presenters, this year from 3-8 June. The Science Festival always includes some…
Double Maths First Thing will sign autographs, form an orderly queue Hello! My name is Colin and I am a mathematician on a mission to spread joy and delight in mathematical practice. Last week, the Pseudorandom Ensemble gave our first performance, A Totally Normal Song live at the Clopen Mic Night. At the moment, the video is still up and…
The next issue of the Carnival of Mathematics, rounding up blog posts from the month of April 2025, is now online at Reflections and Tangents. The Carnival rounds up maths blog posts from all over the internet, including some from our own Aperiodical. See our Carnival of Mathematics page for more information.
Double Maths First Thing is HORRIFIED and you should be too. Hello! My name is Colin and I am a mathematician on a mission to spread joy and delight, so obviously I’m going to start with something awful: I recently learned that a “one-year flood” is not remotely the same thing as a “365-day flood”.…
No dragons were harmed in the making of Double Maths First Thing. Hello! My name is Colin and I am a mathematician on a mission to spread joy and delight in numerical noodling, patterny playfulness and generally messing about with maths. This week I’m back at my desk after a long Easter break. There are…
Double Maths First Thing doesn’t look an issue older than 1F Hello! My name is Colin and I am a mathematician on a mission to spread joy in the creativity and beauty of maths, in the delight of figuring things out and asking more questions. This week, I’ve been playing with continued fractions, and finally…
In 1693, Christiaan Huygens was struggling to learn the new calculus developed by his former student Gottfried Leibniz. He wrote to Leibniz asking for “any important problems where they should be used, so that this give me desire to study them”. Ever since, ‘when will I ever use this?’ is a common refrain, especially among…