Here’s a roundup of news stories from December 2021 that we didn’t cover at the time. Maths results Firstly, some nice news of a proof of a result on the density of unit fractions – a set of integers of positive density must contain distinct $n_1,\dots,n_k$ such that $\frac{1}{n_1}+\ldots+\frac{1}{n_k}=1$. (via Thomas Bloom) According to this…
A surprising number of mathematicians (including some friends of the Aperiodical) have been on UK telly this Christmas! Nira Chamberlain on University Challenge Winner of the Big Internet Math-Off 2018, Nira Chamberlain, captained the Portsmouth University team in an episode of the University Challenge Christmas special (on iPlayer, and the episode on YouTube). We’re pleased…
It’s that time of year when we take a look at the UK Government’s New Years Honours list for any particularly mathematical entries. Here is the selection for this year – any more, let us know in the comments and we’ll add to the list. David Winton Harding, founder of the Winton Group, knighted for…
If you’re the kind of person who’s interested in doodling and/or fun toys, you might have encountered the fun doodling toy Spirograph, or some unbranded equivalent. It sits somewhere on the continuum between an artistic drawing tool and a neat mathematical gadget.
This is the second in a series of guest posts by David Benjamin, exploring the secrets of Pascal’s Triangle. Sequences in the diagonals There are many sequences of numbers to be found in Pascal’s triangle. The Natural numbers occur in the second diagonal, running in either direction, and the next two diagonals after that contain…
Between the three Aperiodical editors (myself, Christian Lawson-Perfect and Peter Rowlett), there’s a developing tradition of excellent mathematical gift-giving. This year, Christian has excelled himself by designing and creating a brilliant mathematical hoodie, which features a meme about an in-joke (and who can resist either a meme or an in-joke?)
Since we know you’ll enjoy looking at some weird and wonderful illusion videos, we thought we’d share that the Best Illusion of the Year Contest has posted its 2021 finalists, and you can vote for the winner on their website.