Double Maths First Thing is disappointed that it’s not that sort of plot you’re meant to remember.
Hello! My name is Colin and I am a mathematician on a mission to spread the joy and delight in doing maths, even if today I am slightly despondent about an off-by-one error in my code that means I’ll have to re-run a load of analysis. On the plus side, that might explain some of the errors.
Also on the plus side, my kids have made me mathematically proud this week: the 10yo, set the absurd homework of learning his 13- and 14-times tables (because the reward for being good at times tables should of course be learning more times tables, rather than doing something useful) got upset and then, with some prodding, did some Actual Maths – working things out, saying “it can’t be that”, looking for patterns, rather than mindlessly tapping the buttons in a race to get his times down. Meanwhile, 11yo asked an interesting question and played with it on Geogebra. Lovely stuff.
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If you were at last year’s Big MathsJam, you’ll have heard me talk about HyperRogue – including the line that in Euclidean space, you can fit a particular circle on A4, but in hyperbolic space you’d need the M3. Its author, ZenoRogue, answers a different question: how can you best compare different players’ abilities at games of skill? Incidentally, I understand there are limited numbers of tickets remaining for this year’s BMJ in a fortnight or so – I hope I’ll see you there!
John D Cook shares Apollonius’s Theorem, a variant on Pythagoras I didn’t know about.
There was a meme doing the rounds, so to speak, about AI “improving” the route from Paris CdG to Los Angeles which led to some explanations about great circles. I had a lovely “oh YEAH!” moment when the longest flight I could find was just a shade short of 20,000km. There are reasons for that.
I very much enjoyed a project called S.A.R.C.A.S.M. – a Slightly Annoying Rubik’s Cube Automatic Solving Machine, a worthy backronym. On the subject of -nyms, I point you at one of my favourite podcasts, The Allusionist (often sweary, and the better for it), which covered retronyms. Things like acoustic guitar, whole milk and the Catholic Church – which were simply guitars, milk and the Church until alternatives arrived.
And in “things I’m really looking forward to playing with even if they’re only mathematical if you look at them squiffy”, I have strudel, a musical coding language.
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We’re into November, which means there’s a new Carnival of Mathematics available, courtesy of Robin Whitty (who gives DMFT a generous shout-out, much appreciated). The next one will be hosted by my dear friend Tom Briggs, author of the Mathematicians’ Library, which is available wherever etc. If you’ve got links that belong in the carnival, click here to submit them.
I’m sure Chris Smith will be disappointed I haven’t made this week’s issue three-dimensional, but he’ll be happy if you sign up for his newsletter by emailing aap03102 [at] gmail [dot] 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