Double Maths First Thing only exports lost puffins
Hello! My name is Colin and I am a mathematician on a mission to spread joy and delight, and to find excuses to do interesting maths. (If you could use an interesting mathematician — for the purpose of solving problems, slinging code, writing content or making the world a better place, give me a shout!)
This week it’s the first half of the Easter break here — and the kids have finally reached an age where they value a lie-in. I finally understand why middle-aged people say the morning is the best part of the day: you can get on with stuff without having to referee squabbles of tell them to turn Spongebob down for the fifteenth time.
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Let’s start with some lovely mathematical art: Dori the Giant’s 13 Animals, each made from 13 circles. I think the walrus is my favourite.
I enjoyed this tootstorm from Robin Houston about Yuu Asaka’s deconstructed jigsaw puzzles. I love it when someone says “it’s always this way. Why not do it a different way?”
Unless, of course, they’re in charge of the world’s largest economy and don’t have a Scooby-Doo what they’re doing. Matt Parker has the breakdown, so that I don’t have to.
While doing research on mountweazels, I came across the Wikipedia page for Claude Litre. Having written a song that claimed there was an SI unit named after Nelson Candela, I heartily approve.
I suppose there ought to be something halfway serious in here, even if it’s the holidays: here’s a nice piece about breaking down tricky probabilities.
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We’ve got a new Carnival of Mathematics courtesy of Fractal Kitty — in case this round-up of interesting maths isn’t enough for you. (It includes many things I missed).
One of the perks of running a newsletter is that I get to promote excellent work by excellent people — if you teach maths, and need either 15-minute activities (which can be stacked to make longer sessions), you should check out Alison Kiddle and Katie Steckles‘ webshop at 15minutemaths.com
That’s all I’ve got for this week. If you have friends and/or colleagues who would enjoy Double Maths First Thing, do send them the link to sign up — they’ll be very welcome here.
If you’ve missed the previous issues of DMFT or — somehow — this one, you can find the archive courtesy of my dear friends at the Aperiodical.
Meanwhile, if there’s something I should know about, you can find me on Mathstodon as @icecolbeveridge, or at my personal website. You can also just reply to this email if there’s something you want to tell me.
Until next time,
C