Wolfram|Alpha was released today. This is a fascinating piece of technology and I am trying to work out how I feel about it. If you don’t know what it is, for a general overview you could read “Wolfram ‘search engine’ goes live” from the BBC or a little more detail from “Ask Alpha: Quizzing the…
Podcast: Episode 29 – Noel-Ann Bradshaw, Evolutionary algorithms for financial applications
These are the show notes for episode 29 of the Travels in a Mathematical World Podcast. 29 is prime, the 29th power of two is the largest power of two to have all different digits. More about 29 from Prime Curios. Regular listeners will know Noel-Ann Bradshaw as the regular contributor of the maths history…
The use of Careers Advisory Services
My response to “Careers Advisory Service any use?“, which is in response to “Is careers advice up to the job?“. a) Students don’t realise the value of the Careers Advisory Service while they’re at uni. I spoke to one University Careers Advisor who said he has friends who do exactly what he does but charge…
Serverfail
Earlier this week my server underwent what might be politely termed an “unscheduled outage“. This has messed up a lot of stuff, including the Travels in a Mathematical World podcast. This is now back from another server and all is well again. All episodes are linked from www.travelsinamathematicalworld.co.uk. My personal website and ELMS remain offline…
Puzzling over careers in York
Last week I spent two days in York giving talks. Firstly I gave an evening lecture to the York University Maths Society (YUMS) on Puzzles. I found this highly enjoyable. I think was the first talk I have written that I was looking forward to giving rather than being preoccupied with anxiety on its first…
Wii ball games in Newcastle and Sheffield
At the end of April I made a trip to Newcastle and back via Sheffield to give my talk on Spin in Ball Games and play on the Wii. Both of these events were fun and I think provided some welcome revision relief for the students. At this time of year a lot of universities…
Conferences on Mathematics in London
At the end of the Easter conference season I spent two days in London for conferences. The first was the IMA’s flagship general mathematical interest conference, Mathematics 2009. At this I was very excited to hear Sir Roger Penrose speak. Read an outline of Sir Roger’s work at Plus. I was also pleased for the…