University of Tel Aviv astronomer Alon Retter alerts us to his provocative paper positing a mathematical similarity between astronomical objects and human children. Retter’s monography is another example of the spectacular nature of many research papers in the small, new viXra depository (profiled here recently; see “Alternate everything: the joy of viXra“) as compared to […]
Tag: math
The value of love, according to Bob Dylan
In honor of Bob Dylan’s 70th birthday, here is a Dylan-derived mathematical study about the value of love. We originally published it in vol 1, no. 5 of the Annals of Improbable Research (thanks to investigator Lynne Cohen for suggesting it re-appear today). Click on the link to download the entire study, which begins: The […]
Shocking: Cheating at math?
An eminent mathematician alerts us to this news report, and asks: “Would you want to receive a mild shock? Well if you were a college student failing math, and you read this report, you might. So the question then becomes: Is this considered cheating?” The report, by Charles Choi of Live Science, says: Zap, You’re […]
When Hairdressers Were Computers
Some mathematicians pay attention to hairdressers more than other mathematicians do. Two modern scholars focused their attention very differently when they wrote about history’s most famous numerico-tonsorial collaboration. In 1784, mathematicians joined forces with hairdressers on a scale probably never attempted before or since. A century and a half later, Raymond Clare Archibald looked back […]