If you like your shapes to be of constant width, friends of the Aperiodical Matt Parker and Steve Mould, who run Maths Gear, have long been the market leader in selling you flat 2D shapes which have the same diameter no matter which direction you measure in (well, them and the Royal Mint). But if…
Open Season: Prime Numbers (Part 1)
In this short series of articles, I’m writing about mathematical questions we don’t know the answer to – which haven’t yet been proven or disproven. This is the third article in the series, and across two parts will discuss various open conjectures relating to prime numbers. I don’t think it’s too much of an overstatement…
muoto by Traction and Brainstorm
[youtube url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQtJMOAsjdA] via bitcraft lab on Twitter
Not Mentioned on the Aperiodical this month, 21 August
Here are three things we noticed this month which didn’t get a proper write-up, due to thesis/Edinburgh fringe/holidays: a big proof, a fun maths book club, and a ridiculous bit of pi-related madhattery.
iPad apps for university mathematics teaching: your suggestions please
New game, everyone! Work have bought me an iPad. I have so far discovered this is basically a touch screen interface through which I can write email, read Twitter and play pinball, but I’ve heard a rumour that it can do even more than that. I’d like you to suggest what else I might do…
Manchester MathsJam recap, August 2013
This month we had a few new faces, and plenty of regulars. We also had someone’s first MathsJam, and someone’s last (in the UK): Manchester regular Nicolette brought along her 6-week old baby Julia, who experienced her first recreational maths night in a pub, and by this time next month Nicolette will be back in…
Julia Robinson and Hilbert’s Tenth Problem, by George Csicsery
Over on Google+, David Roberts just posted this trailer (via Антид Ото) to a lovely documentary about Julia Robinson and her contributions towards answering Hilbert’s tenth problem. [youtube url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4x9XKNAYjU] David Hilbert’s tenth problem was to find an algorithm to solve diophantine equations, that is, to find roots of polynomials with integer coefficients. We now know that…