There’s no Nobel Prize for Mathematics This is a common statement. I’ve certainly used it myself. Recently it occurred to me to be annoyed with this. Nobel Prizes are awarded in physics, chemistry, medicine, literature, peace and economics, but not mathematics. On the other hand, mathematics is widely applicable and I think I could convince…
Christmas presents
What did I get for Christmas (mathematically, at least)? My big present was an Acme Klein Bottle, whose website claims it to be one of “the finest closed, non-orientable, boundary-free manifolds sold anywhere in our three spatial dimensions”. This is a 3D representation of a 4D Klein bottle; a pale shadow, of course, although the…
Pictorial proofs
I received this message from Alan Stevens, Nottingham Maths Jam attendee. I am putting it here so readers of this blog and the other Maths Jams might consider the topic as well. Although I won’t be able to make the next MathsJam at Nottingham I’ve thought of a theme you might like to consider. I…
Figurative Sculptures by Manuel Martí Moreno
Figurative Sculptures by Manuel Martí Moreno:
Why I like some bad maths stories
My two most recent posts here have been about a story reporting a coincidence as more exceptional that it is and ‘bad maths’ reported in the media. Both are examples of mathematical stories being reported in a way that is not desirable. Somehow, though, I like the whist story and dislike the PR equations. I…
‘Bad maths’ news stories
On the Math/Maths Podcast, we frequently cover ‘bad maths’ stories. A recent example was the bobbing apples story we spoke about in episode 71: Halloween Fruit Special. This proposed a “mind-bogglingly complicated equation”, provided by a supermarket, for finding the perfect bobbing apple: D = 3 x (2 + T^2) x M / (10 x…