Wikithon for diversity in mathematics

By Peter Rowlett. Posted October 1, 2019

Image of Ada Lovelace (credit: Science Museum)

Next Tuesday, October 8th, UCL Mathematics is hosting a Wikithon in celebration of Ada Lovelace Day from 5-7pm. The theme is Diversity in Mathematics, and the aim is to write Wikipedia articles about mathematicians from under-represented groups. The session will be led by Dr Jess Wade BEM (Imperial College, Physics) and Dr Alice White (Wellcome Trust).

Jess Wade was appointed BEM earlier this year for services to Gender Diversity in Science.

If you want to participate, you are asked to bring a laptop – pizza will be provided. You are asked to register (for free) for catering reasons.

Carnival of Mathematics

Carnival of Maths 173

By Katie Steckles. Posted September 13, 2019

The next issue of the Carnival of Mathematics, rounding up blog posts from the month of August, is now online at PeterKrautzberger.org. The Carnival rounds up maths blog posts from all over the internet, including some from our own Aperiodical. See our Carnival of Mathematics page for more information.

News

42 is the answer to the question “what is (-80538738812075974)³ + 80435758145817515³ + 12602123297335631³?”

By Robin Houston. Posted September 6, 2019

We now know that the number 42 can be written as the sum of three cubes: \[ 42 = (-80538738812075974)^3 + 80435758145817515^3 + 12602123297335631^3 \] This computational breakthrough was achieved in a collaboration between Andrew Sutherland (MIT) and Andrew Booker (Bristol). They announced the result by both replacing their homepages with the expression – with…

News

Simon Singh wants someone to help with Top Top Set

By Christian Lawson-Perfect. Posted September 6, 2019

Simon Singh, author of Fermat’s Last Theorem and The Code Book, among others, has for the last three years been running a project called Top-Top Set. It’s an enrichment project to stretch kids at non-selective state schools in the UK.

Now, Simon is looking for an experienced maths teacher to help him grow the project even further.

Responsibilities for the Top-Top Set Project Co-ordinator include:

Developing the top-top set project to maximise its impact and cost-effectiveness.
Supporting and visiting the schools currently
Helping schools implement the top-top set model to full effect.
Recruiting more schools to start in September 2020.
Working with potential and existing funders.
Teaching top-top sets or potential top-top set students.
Developing resources for and managing the online Parallel Project.

If that sounds like something you’d like to do, find more information about how to apply at the Good Thinking Society website.

If that doesn’t sound like something you’d like to do, or just while you’re waiting to hear if you’ve got the job, check out Parallel, a set of free weekly maths challenges developed to support Top-Top Set, but available to everyone.

News

Cédric Villani is running for mayor of Paris

By Christian Lawson-Perfect. Posted September 5, 2019

Fields medallist Cédric Villani has announced he’s running to be mayor of Paris.

Villani is already a deputé for Emmanuel Macron’s La République en Marche! party, but his ambition doesn’t seem to be bounded above, so now he wants to be mayor of Paris.

France has already had a mathematician President, Paul Painlevé, so I’m surprised to see Villani revisiting a solved problem. Maybe he’s going for an induction…

How far will Cédric Villani go to achieve his goal? Well, here’s a piece in Le Parisien featuring a photo of him in an open-necked shirt and without his signature spider brooch. Watch out, world!

A press release on Villani’s website also mentions that he’s got a book out in February, Immersion, de la science à la politique, reflecting on his experiences campaigning and in parliament.

Blackboard Bold

Reimagining Byrne’s Euclid

By Katie Steckles. Posted September 5, 2019

Barcelona-based publishing company Kronecker Wallis have produced a new updated edition of Byrne’s Euclid. We asked founder and editor Jordi Anton to tell us all about it – and their related Principia reprint, which is still looking for funding on Kickstarter. Tell us about Euclid’s Elements. Euclid of Alexandria lived c. 300 BCE. He wrote…

cp's mathem-o-blog

TeXnique: a LaTeX typesetting game

By Christian Lawson-Perfect. Posted September 1, 2019

You know what’s fun? Typesetting mathematics! Glad you agree, because here’s a game that puts the fun in ‘underfilled hbox’. In TeXnique, you’re shown a typeset bit of mathematical notation, and have to frantically type LaTeX to reproduce it. You get three minutes, and you’re awarded points when you produce something that’s a pixel-perfect replica…