Reflect on the summer’s sport with some fun nonsense equations by writer Craig Damrauer. You need to click on the box to set each clip going. A New Math Guide to the Olympics on Nowness.com.
Keith Devlin’s Mathematical Thinking MOOC opens for registrations
Prof Keith Devlin of Stanford University is running a Massively Open Online Course (MOOC) on Coursera, titled “Introduction to Mathematical Thinking“, with a stated goal to “help you develop a valuable mental ability – a powerful way of thinking that our ancestors have developed over three thousand years.” MOOCs are big news, lately, with a…
Puzzlebomb – August 2012
Puzzlebomb is a monthly puzzle compendium. Issue 8 of Puzzlebomb, for August 2012, can be found here: Puzzlebomb – Issue 8 – August 2012 The solutions to Issue 8 can be found here: Puzzlebomb – Issue 8 – August 2012 – Solutions Previous issues of Puzzlebomb, and their solutions, can be found here.
Understanding maths ‘more important than learning by rote’ shocker
A study by Oxford University’s Department of Education and reported in the Telegraph claims that “those who were good at maths reasoning aged eight tended to do better at the subject in future years than classmates who simply knew their numbers”. This is pitched as a challenge to the current Government move towards rote learning…
The Alan Turing (Statutory Pardon) Bill first reading
As was hinted at in a debate in Parliament to mark the centenary of Turing’s birth, a private members’ bill has been introduced in the House of Lords seeking a pardon for Turing – and Turing alone – for his conviction of gross indecency when homosexual acts were illegal in the UK. The bill has…
Number Gossip has been killed. Can you help?
For several years, Tanya Khovanova’s Number Gossip was an invaluable resource for maths fans whenever they found themselves saying, “that looks like a special number!” It was a simple list of integers and all the interesting facts known about each one; there were prime numbers, odd numbers, evil numbers, perfect numbers, and countless facts about…
Mathematics: a culture of historical inaccuracy?
Earlier this year, back when I somehow managed to find time to write blog posts (sorry!), I wrote a couple of pieces on incorrect but oft-repeated stories in history of mathematics, basically describing some issues and expressing my frustration. These were Apparently Gauss got in this bar fight with Hilbert… and Why do we enjoy…