Some persons predict that the world will end on December 21, 2012. Perhaps they are correct. For mathematical context, take a look back (perhaps the last look back any of us will have a chance to make!) at the 2011 Ig Nobel Prize winners in the field of mathematics: MATHEMATICS PRIZE: Dorothy Martin of the USA (who […]
Tag: mathematics
Log Scales: Of minor amusement to certain mathematicians
Mathematicians of a certain bent enjoy puns. For them — and only them — here are some items about log scales: A photo of a log scale Log scales in Australia Log scales somewhere else And this: “The Case for Cubic Log Scale“, which blends in an unusual but sensible way notions from two kinds of […]
How Mathematicians wonder: The Riemann hypothesis
The Riemann hypothesis [the tiny photo here shows Riemann, he who hypothesized] fascinates an uncountable number of mathematicians. Many have tried, tried, tried to prove that it’s true. The problem is not easy. Here’s proof, of a sort, of how not easy it is. The following passage appears on page 100 of Ricardo Perez Marco [pictures here […]
The International Workshop on Packing
Make your travel plans now for the next International Workshop on Packing. This year’s, held in Dublin in a “packed house”, has just concluded, the participants (all of whom have intriguingly packed schedules) efficiently stuffing their travel accoutrements and dirty clothes into backpacks and suitcases, and hastening back to their labs and homes. The conference’s promoters […]
The more-than-seven ages of man (and woman)
William Shakespeare reduced the ages of man to a mere seven, in the play “As You Like It“. In this video, actor Benedict Cumberbatch presents that argument: In contrast, the maker of the video below went for a less literarily — but more mathematically — classical approach to age, assigning a different age for each year […]
A smidgen of mathematical levity, plus 58 minutes
In this first video, Fry and Laurie present a calculated bit of mathematical levity [HT Jennifer Ouellette]: In the following video, Professor Bikash Kumar Dey of the Department of Electrical Engineering, IIT Bombay, presents 58 minutes without levity. It’s his famous “Lecture – 22 Probability of Error Calculation”. Enjoy, if you will: BONUS: “Lecture – 24 […]
Mathematics, Morally
Eugenia Cheng [pictured here] thought long and hard about the, or at least a, relationship between mathematics and morality. She wrote up those thoughts and delivered them in a talk called “Mathematics, Morally” on 23rd January, 2004, at the Cambridge University Society for the Philosophy of Mathematics. Cheng writes: The first thing to be clear about is that […]
The games and vodka of Michiel de Bondt
Scientists, most of them, do find enjoyments, even in the most serious moments. Witness evidence in the case of Michiel de Bondt, pictured here on the 7th of July 2009. Dr. de Bondt describes the occasion: On the 7th of July 2009, I, Michiel de Bondt, promoted to Ph.D. in mathematics. Thesis (electronic, without cover) The […]
Vi Hart’s visit to Möbius world
Vi Hart tells, in this video, about a visit to a Möbius world: Interest in things Möbius runs in the Hart family. Vi Hart’s father, George Hart, invented the Möbius bagel.
Courant Algebroids, Categorified Symplectic
Courant Algebroids From Categorified Symplectic Geometry, anyone? If so, consult Chris Rogers’ November 10, 2009 essay on the topic.