A couple of weekends ago was the big MathsJam gathering (I might call it a recreational maths conference, but this is discouraged). Two of the delightful sideshows, alongside an excellent series of talks, were the competitions. The Baking Competition is fairly straightforward, with prizes for “best flavour, best presentation, and best maths”: The first will…
Not Mentioned on The Aperiodical, November 2017
Here’s a round-up of a few news stories we’ve not had chance to write about this month.
Applications are open for the 6th Heidelberg Laureate Forum
You may have noticed Aperiodical team members Paul and I were blogging from the Heidelberg Laureate Forum back in September. The HLF is an opportunity for young researchers (PhD, MSc and post-doc) to meet the winners of prestigious prizes in maths and computer science, including the Abel Prize, Fields Medal, ACM AM Turing Prize and Nevanlinna prize.
The next HLF will take place in September 2018, and applications open today for Young Researchers who want to participate. If you’re a maths or computer science researcher and want to be invited on a trip to Germany with lots of interesting talks, delicious food and good company, you can apply on the HLF website from today.
New maths board game Mind Your Numbers
You may recall a few years ago we posted about a crowdfunded mathematical board game called Three Sticks. Well, the team behind it are at it again and have a new concept for a game, called Mind Your Numbers.The game involves using the numbers 1 to 9, and twelve symbols (three each of +,×,-,÷). The challenge is to combine the symbols and numbers in the right way to get a higher score than your opponent. It requires fast calculation, strategic thinking and a bit of luck.
Their IndieGoGo campaign hopes to raise enough money to go into production, and they have 7 days left to take pre-orders and donations in return for goodies. It’s also possible to make a donation which results in not you, but a worthy school in rural India, getting a copy of the game.
Watch the video below for an idea of how it works!
Braid groups win 2017 Dance Your PhD contest
If you hadn’t heard of Dance Your PhD, it’s one of many competitions open to researchers who want to communicate their work in interesting ways – although it’s unique in that it challenges people to interpret their research topic in the form of a dance.
Carnival of Mathematics 151
The next issue of the Carnival of Mathematics, rounding up blog posts from the month of October, and compiled by Frederick, is now online at White Group Mathematics. 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.
Black Mathematician Month: Closing Ceremony
Below is an article marking the end of Black Mathematician Month, written by the team at UCL. We’ve been participating in the project too, and we’ve found it a great opportunity to invite new authors to write for our site and to showcase black mathematicians from the UK and elsewhere. We’ve posted several articles during…