The Aperiodical 

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Relatively Prime Recap: Season 2, Episode 6: Principia Metropolica

By Colin Beveridge. Posted February 11, 2016




I’ve been looking forward to this one: cities in the mathematical domain. This is the kind of applied maths I can really get behind.

Samuel starts with Mike Batty of University College, London’s Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis discussing how cities grow and organise themselves. The structure is frequently fractal; how does one calculate the dimension of a city?

From a top-level view of cities, he moves on to a low-level description of one of the biggest problem in cities: traffic (another thing that fascinates me). We get a glimpse of traffic waves, and the unfairness that the person responsible for the average jam doesn’t suffer from the effects. And we learn that Gábor Orosz (University of Michigan) tests his hypotheses using robots as well as simulations.

Relatively Prime Recap: Season 2, Episode 5: Other Duties As Assigned

By Colin Beveridge. Posted February 5, 2016





For about 40 minutes of this week’s episode of Relatively Prime (Number 5 of 8, already? Good heavens!), Samuel Hansen looks like he’s managed to escape from his shameful, borderline criminal, past in Las Vegas. But he’s pulled back in for one last job, which is a debacle, of course.

Relatively Prime Recap: Season 2, Episode 4: Diegetic Plots, Chapter 1

By Colin Beveridge. Posted January 30, 2016



On top of the usual disclosures, I should add that Dave Gale and I interviewed Samuel Hansen this week for our Wrong, But Useful podcast, which you might like to listen to for a deeper insight into Samuel’s brain.

During the conversation, he warned me I wouldn’t like Episode 4 of the new Relatively Prime, “Diegetic Plots, Chapter 1”. I don’t know if that was expectation management or an elaborate double bluff, but the joke’s on you, Hansen: I jolly well did like it, so there!

Relatively Prime Recap: Season 2, Episode 3: Mathematistan

By Colin Beveridge. Posted January 22, 2016



I have to say, I chuckled: the week Relatively Prime hits ‘noteworthy’ on iTunes is the week Samuel discusses using maths to do well in popularity contests. Coincidence? I think not.

To me, episode 3 of the second series represents something of a return to form for one of the top half-dozen maths podcasts around; whether this is because I’m a fan of political maths or because it’s genuinely really good is a) difficult to tell because I’m biased and b) a false dichotomy.

Relatively Prime Recap: Season 2, Episode 2: Your Daily Recommended Math[s]

By Colin Beveridge. Posted January 15, 2016



Maths – as teachers are fond of telling anyone who’ll listen – is everywhere. In this difficult second episode of the difficult second series of Relatively Prime, Samuel Hansen shows us a few important places where it can be a help: at the petrol pump, at the birthday party, in the car park and at the bar — or rather, in deciding whether to go.

Relatively Prime Recap: Season 2, Episode 1: The Lexicon

By Colin Beveridge. Posted January 8, 2016



I’ve been waiting for the new season of Relatively Prime for more than three years. I’ve listened to Chinook, the highlight of Season 1, countless times since then. And finally, finally, it’s arrived in my podcast feed.

Woo, and for that matter, hoo!

News Round-up, 21/10/14

By Katie Steckles. Posted October 21, 2014

Here’s some quick stories from the world of maths this week.