Mathematical and statistical software specialists The Numerical Algorithms Group (NAG) are advertising a twelve month student placement in Oxford as a software engineer. We are looking for somebody who has completed the equivalent of two years of a three-year degree course. A strong computing component in the course is important and some mathematical background or…
Chrome now supports MathML
Update 07/02/2013: Google giveth, and it taketh away. MathML support in Chrome has been disabled until it’s “production-ready”. Putting maths on the web has always been a tricky proposition. Typesetting notation is a highly complicated procedure, so for years people have got by either by compromising on aesthetics and writing equations in plain, unadorned text, or…
This is an ex-parrot. ‘Is plumage has dimension 1
A paper by Lorenzo Pérez-Rodríguez, Roger Jovani and François Mougeot in Proceedings B, “Fractal geometry of a complex plumage trait reveals bird’s quality“, claims that the measurement of the fractal dimension of a red-legged partridge’s chest plumage is a good indicator of its health. I know what you’re thinking: another ‘non-mathematicians pick trendy term to describe…
Art by Owen Schuh
Manchester MathsJam January 2013 Recap
The first MathsJam of the year was well attended. Despite not being on our usual table (there was no jazz band on this week, so we were allowed a bigger table further into the pub) everyone found us ok, and a few people brought baked goods – always a precursor to an excellent MathsJam. We…
Save the Ri
It’s been in the news this week that the Royal Institution is having financial trouble, and is considering selling its London headquarters at Albemarle Street. The organisation has done a great deal for the popularisation of mathematics over the years, from including mathematics in its series of annual Christmas Lectures (delivered by Christopher Zeeman in…
Advantages of assessment – please discuss
I write to share and invite discussion of something I presented at a conference at Nottingham Trent University last week. I have been thinking a lot about assessment methods and their advantages and limitations for a chapter I am writing for my PhD thesis. For example, I could set a paper test and mark it…