Double Maths First Thing is being written in the dark
Hello! My name is Colin and I am a mathematician on a mission to spread mathematical joy and delight. However, at de moment, delights aren’t working; we’re in a power cut and I’m hoping my various batteries will hold out long enough to get DMFT scheduled.
I’ve spent some time in the media spotlight over the last week — young Bill and I were on BBC Radio Solent, with a parallel write-up here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c938gwny7qzo ; we were also featured in the Times (although only the print version, as far as I can tell) and the Sun (which I would probably have vetoed if I’d been asked about it).
Incidentally, I’m on the lookout for a job at the moment. If you, or anyone you know, could use a mathematician who can solve problems with code, please do connect us!
This week’s links
Rob Eastaway was the instigator of the whole Shakespearean card trick thing, and he has a new blog post about a 16th century woodcut — can you tell what Boethius is up to with his numbers?
The Millennium Prize problems are often used as a hook to draw people into maths (pah! if you’re solving that sort of thing, you’re not doing it for the money.) Another unsolved problem with a million-dollar bounty is Beal’s conjecture, which Peter Norvig runs through here.
Fancy some lovely visualisations? You should check out the work of Bartosz Ciechanowski. This is excellent maths communication, in my opinion.
Finally, I’ll point to Zoe Griffifth’s review of Mapmatics, but Paulina Rowińska. It’s on my list of books to buy and put in a pile by my bed.
That’s all I’ve got power 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