Episode 5. The smallest number of queens needed to attack every square on a standard chess board is five. More facts about the number 5 at numbergossip.com and for more about chessboard domination and similar problems a good starting place is the wikipedia article “Eight queens puzzle”. In this episode of the podcast we hear…
Thinking Mathematically in Greenwich
Last week I attended an event of the University of Greenwich Mathsoc, “Thinking Mathematically and Learning Mathematics Mathematically” by John Mason. This was very enjoyable, with some interesting problems to highlight aspects of the way people think about mathematics. Nice to exercise my mathematical muscle every now and then. I took the opportunity when crossing…
Podcast: Episode 4 – Maths news with Sarah Shepherd
Episode 4. On any plane separated into regions, the regions may be coloured in such a way that no two adjacent regions receive the same colour using no more than four colours. Read a history of the four colour theorem at the MacTutor archive or get more information on the theorem at Wikipedia. On the…
New Unified Mathematical Society
Over the past two weeks I have hectically followed the Presidents of the IMA and the LMS on a tour of several universities connected to the proposal for the formation of a new mathematical society. I should say my involvement has been nothing compared to the Presidents, who have visits more universities than I, have…
Podcast: Episode 3 – Dr. Joanna Hartley, Public Transport Modelling
These are the show notes for episode 3 of the Travels in a Mathematical World podcast. 3 is prime and the only number which is equal to the sum of all the natural numbers less than it. More facts about number 3 from numbergossip.com. I was returning home from a trip to Birmingham, when a…
Somewhere between 78 and 120 people are listening (possibly)
I am delighted to report that the first episode of the Travels in a Mathematical World podcast was released a week ago and has been downloaded 120 times by 78 unique IP addresses in the first week (one of which was me). Turning web hit logs into number of real people is a black art…
Podcast: Episode 2 – Noel-Ann Bradshaw, Newton and Leibniz
These are the show notes for episode 2 of the Travels in a Mathematical World podcast. 2 is prime, the only even prime number. More facts about number 2 from thesaurus.maths.org. In the first of our Maths History series, Noel-Ann Bradshaw of the University of Greenwich and also Meetings Co-ordinator of the British Society for…