Goal: 400 words researched and written in half and hour. For me, for practice. Corrections welcome in the comments. ∞ Why does the weather forecast only go a few days into the future, and why are they so often wrong about what will happen in a couple of days time? If they know where the…
Pedantry on Euler and masts
I listened to the second episode of A Brief History of Mathematics on Euler yesterday. I was quite taken with a quote from Euler which, to me, says something of the potential dangers of the application of mathematics to the real world. The relevant section of the programme is:
Cosmic-Ray Research Centre and Cold War Helter-Skelter in Secret Cave City
Samuel Hansen directed me to this article: “The secret cave city under Nottingham“. The article is highlighting The Nottingham Caves Survey, who offer: The Nottingham Caves Survey is in the process of recording all of Nottingham’s 450+ sandstone caves. The project is now underway and we are surveying caves even as you read this. Keep…
Math/Maths in Google Books Ngrams
Google Books Ngram Viewer is a Google labs product for comparing terms in books between 1500 and 2008. The idea seems to be to track trends in language. An interesting idea. Anyway, both Christian Perfect (@christianp) and Daniel Demski (@dranorter) sent me the Ngram comparing “math” with “maths”. Christian observed: “bad news: it looks like…
Intros to the Math/Maths Podcast
Could you record an introduction to the Math/Maths Podcast? In recent weeks you’ll have heard intros by Matt Parker, James Grime and Alex Corner. We’re going to cycle through them each week but I’m keen to increase the number of these, particularly from listeners. The basic format is: “This is Fred {from wherever(.com)}. You’re listening…
MathsJam Nottingham
MathsJam is “a monthly opportunity for like-minded self-confessed maths enthusiasts to get together in a pub and share stuff they like. Puzzles, games, problems, or just anything they think is cool or interesting.” Regular events take place in London and Manchester and now also in Nottingham. Events provisionally take place on the second to last…
400 words in 30 minutes on zero
I am bad at writing concisely. I am not great at writing to a deadline. In order to practice both skills I make this pledge: 400 words researched and written in half an hour on a mathematical topic, weekly. I may not keep this up but we will see. It is for my benefit but…