85 by brighterorange Introduction Welcome to a new Carnival of Mathematics! Traditionally the Carnival opens with facts about the number, this time 85, but first I have an important point of admin to address. From Carnival of Mathematics 59 in November 2009 until Carnival of Mathematics 84 in December 2011, the Carnival was coordinated by…
April Fools on the arXiv
Here’s a post on Metafilter about papers posted to the arXiv on April Fools’ Day. They’re all from the physics section, but a couple are of the basically-maths sort of physics. I had a look at the maths section for any papers with bizarre titles published on the 1st of April but I couldn’t find…
Money Polyhedra by Kristi Malakoff
Money Polyhedra by Kristi Malakoff:
May I publish a letter from my MP without permission?
A friend of mine recently contacted her MP on a matter of use or misuse of statistics in promotional material and received a reply. She wants to write a blog post about the experience. The fairest way to do this would be to quote the MP’s response, since this avoids hearsay and anecdote. Is she…
History of Mathematics Undergraduate Essay Prize
The British Society for the History of Mathematics (BSHM) is running an undergraduate essay prize. The British Society for the History of Mathematics is pleased to invite submissions for its 2011-12 undergraduate essay prize. The essay, which may be on any topic within the history of mathematics, should be between 2000-2500 words. The prize is…
Turing-Tape Games: A Challenge in Algorithmic Problem Solving
To mark the Turing centenary (who isn’t?) a new competition has been launched: To celebrate this centenary, we have developed a collection of one-person games played on a Turing tape. An example is given on the competition website. According to a set of movement rules, the player must: Construct a sequence of moves that when…
Math Awareness Month: Mathematics, Statistics, and the Data Deluge
The American Mathematical Society, the American Statistical Association, the Mathematical Association of America, and the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics announce that the theme for Math Awareness Month, April 2012, is Mathematics, Statistics, and the Data Deluge.