Anonymity Is An Abstraction

 It don't exist:

https://www.wired.com/story/big-data-may-not-know-your-name-but-it-knows-everything-else/

The P-Values Wars Continue

 From a behavioral scientist:

https://towardsdatascience.com/ditch-p-values-use-bootstrap-confidence-intervals-instead-bba56322b522

Monday ASMR

 For feline fans, after the hectic holiday weekend... Can't remember if I've used this one before, but an old 5-minute cat-scratching video that actually makes for a fine ASMR clip even though it's not even labelled as such:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLnC4fjSKdc&list=PLGoqlGdXk6CNhNLVH2nMghXys38LS7Wbd&index=561

A "Law" of Language

 As someone who was always interested in both math and psycholinguistics, was happy to see Zipf's Law get a mention from Futility Closet today:

https://www.futilitycloset.com/2021/12/24/zipfs-law-2/

Wikipedia entry for same:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zipf%27s_law

Thought I'd Seen All the Different Takes With Rubik's Cube (but I was wrong)

 Cubist art (that Leonardo could appreciate):

https://twitter.com/slater_jona/status/1473915632794144768

A Christmas Story... From a Mathematician

Thanks for this Joselle... lovely!!

https://mathrising.com/?p=1811 

Statistical Significance and "Oomph"

 What models and data analysis can miss:

https://mindmatters.ai/2021/12/the-cult-of-statistical-significance-and-the-neglect-of-oomph/

Flawed Covid Research et. al.

 203 retractions... and counting:

https://retractionwatch.com/2021/12/18/weekend-reads-fraudulent-and-faulty-research-a-275k-settlement-but-resignation-for-a-professor-covid-19-ivermectin-and-beyond/

Books, Books, Books...

 A book list for your mathy friends at Holiday time (...or, for anytime):

https://mathladyhazel.medium.com/a-mathematical-reading-list-for-lifelong-learners-in-2022-4152fe1203ab

Matchstick Beauty

 Once again, an offering from Futility Closet:

https://www.futilitycloset.com/2021/12/16/network/

Where Can I Buy One ;))

 But before you laugh too hard, realize THIS is almost how mathematicians sound to some people:

https://twitter.com/PaulLeeTeeks/status/1471330346096496643

Huhh, What....

 A little delightful visual entertainment today via Futility Closet:

https://www.futilitycloset.com/2021/12/15/keep-right/

…and another fun one by Sugihara (of many he’s done):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWfFco7K9v8

Movie Mathdom

 For today, just a fun post from "X-Bubbler" on favorite movies about mathematicians:

http://xbubbler.blogspot.com/2021/12/some-movies-about-mathematicians.html

...which reminds me of a more recent such movie which I never saw, "Adventures of a Mathematician" all about the life of Stanislaw Ulam:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ba7JnqdbbzA

BBC on Covid Immunity...

 Natural immunity vs. vaccination:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0b98hzl

John Cook on "Fraud, Sloppiness, and Statistics"

 A LOT of scientific papers later appear to be wrong. John Cook attempts to explain the likely reasons; longer than his typical posts, but still succinct:

https://www.johndcook.com/blog/2021/12/11/fraud-sloppiness-and-statistics/

Password Security....?

 Ahhh, yes, all those password recommendations?:

(read the comments also)

https://junkcharts.typepad.com/numbersruleyourworld/2021/12/cybersecurity-mystery.html

The Quality of Big Data

 Bigger not always better...:

https://www.statschat.org.nz/2021/12/10/making-it-up-in-volume/

More (World Championship) Chess Analysis

 From Game 2:

https://statmodeling.stat.columbia.edu/2021/12/08/objectively-worse-but-practically-better-an-example-from-the-world-chess-championship/

Statistical Illusion

 Today, from Futility Closet:

https://www.futilitycloset.com/2021/12/08/balance-8/

Journals, Peer Review, Hoaxes/Conning....

via Gelman and Sokal:

https://statmodeling.stat.columbia.edu/2021/12/06/journals-submit-article-with-fake-data-demonstrate-that-some-higher-education-journal-youd-never-heard-of-is-as-bad-as-pnas-psychological-science-lancet-etc-etc-etc/ 

Space Junk By the Numbers

 ...and accident waiting to happen???

https://observationalepidemiology.blogspot.com/2021/12/elon-musk-may-not-fully-grasp-magnitude.html

K-12 Math Education ("an alarming trend")

 Scott Aaronson has a guest post at his blog today on K-12 math education:

https://scottaaronson.blog/?p=6146

Monday Puzzles

 To rev up your brain, Alex Bellos offered forth 3 puzzles today:

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2021/nov/29/can-you-solve-it-yule-devour-these-festive-treats

A "Chess Tug of War"

 For chess fans, a report on the current battle for the chess world championship:

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/neither-grandmaster-yields-in-a-chess-tug-of-war/

Weekend ASMR

 For a little weekend relaxation another sampling of Angelo shoeshine ASMR:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hputo9BjagU

Theorem vs. Paradox

 In case you're in the mood to twist your mind a bit into knots, there's this:  ;)

https://inference-review.com/letter/a-theorem-and-a-paradox

Cookin' up Tweets

 IF you’re on Twitter and you’re interested in math-related material, then you likely already know of John D. Cook and his terse blog posts, but you might not be aware of ALL his Twitter accounts (I guess there are worse addictions one could have! ;) 

Check them out here:

https://www.johndcook.com/blog/twitter_page/

He’s at 18 accounts thus far; can y’all think of just a couple more to get him to a nice round 20? or, even one more would make 19, nicely prime and Lance Alworth’s old jersey number with the San Diego Chargers! ;))

Tai-Danae Bradley and Sean Carroll Together

 Mathematician Tai-Danae Bradley with Sean Carroll on his Mindscape podcast:

https://art19.com/shows/sean-carrolls-mindscape/episodes/91c7d5c3-5ad1-4720-9256-a677782173ec

Andrew Gelman Spends Another Day at the Sausage Factory

Regression discontinuity, oink, oink:

https://statmodeling.stat.columbia.edu/2021/11/21/just-another-day-at-the-sausage-factory-its-just-funny-how-regression-discontinuity-analyses-routinely-produce-these-ridiculous-graphs-and-the-authors-and-journals-dont-even-seen-to-notice/ 

"Musings on mathematical creativity"

 Creative mathematical thinking:

https://emergentmath.com/2021/11/20/musings-on-mathematical-creativity/

Favorite Numberphile Videos....

 I haven't looked these all over, but I don't doubt it makes for a nice little selection:

https://beautyofmathematics.com/favorite-video-every-year-numberphile/

Wheel of Illusion

 Well, this is a lovely optical illusion:

https://twitter.com/SteveStuWill/status/1460013215593553920

Covid and Bad Math?...

 It's complicated...:

https://retractionwatch.com/2021/11/09/bad-math-covid-treatment-paper-by-pierre-kory-retracted-for-flawed-results/

A Take on Taleb's Take...

 A popular Twitter thread on N. Taleb's Real World Risk Institute's 2-week program:

https://twitter.com/emigal/status/1459647941396910086

Creator of The Art of Problem Solving

 Fascinating portrait of Richard Rusczyk, founder of the Art of Problem Solving (H/T to Mike Lawler):

https://www.newyorker.com/culture/persons-of-interest/richard-rusczyks-worldwide-math-camp fbclid=IwAR2mYgDGfB2FwsmybDpTdEFx57BnKGB_armIc3poYblvo1iObWfNqpzhkZU

Imaginary Numbers via Veritasium

 Veritasium gives the background of imaginary numbers and their connection to the physics of reality:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUzklzVXJwo

Twin Primes and Their Shared Neighbors

 “It’s as if the primes were heaving all their divisors over the fence into the neighbor’s yard”….

Another splendid post from Brian Hayes (this time on prime numbers & “tweens”):

http://bit-player.org/2021/does-having-prime-neighbors-make-you-more-composite

Probably room for a lot more work on this... primes are endlessly fascinating.

Michael Harris on Mathematics by Machine

 Peering at the future of mathematics... and the philosophy underlying it?:

https://siliconreckoner.substack.com/p/can-mathematics-be-done-by-machine

What Goes Up Must..... (house-flipping gone awry)

 Is the housing bubble soon to burst (again)? or only Zillow's algorithmic attempt to reap profits from it?:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-11-02/zillow-shuts-down-home-flipping-business-after-racking-up-losses

(H/T Mike Lawler)

Like A Horse and Carriage (math & music)

 Personally, I've always believed in a cognitive linkage between math and music, in part because of the number of individuals I've encountered who were either math majors and music minors, or vice-versa, music majors with math minors... and there are other reasons as well. Apparently, though, some folks doubt the connection, which this study now seems to back up:

https://phys.org/news/2020-11-strong-links-music-math.html

A Fun Carnival of Math

 In the midst of these uncertain and sometimes even dismal times luckily the Carnival of Math comes our way once each month. The latest diverse, entertaining offering (#199) here:

https://doubleroot.in/blog/carnival-of-math-199/

Thinking Better ....if it isn't already too late :(

 I happen to be currently reading and enjoying Marcus du Sautoy's latest book, "Thinking Better" and lo-and-behold Grokscience has a fresh podcast with him:

https://grokscience.wordpress.com/2021/10/27/thinking-better/

ADDENDUM:

...and on the heels of the above podcast, here's another with Marcus discussing his book:

https://www.kpcw.org/show/cool-science-radio/2021-10-28/thinking-better-the-art-of-the-shortcut-in-math-and-life-author-marcus-du-sautoy-oct-28-2021

Albert E. Gives An Assist To a 14-Year-Old

Getting homework help from the best:

https://mindyourdecisions.com/blog/2021/10/26/when-albert-einstein-helped-a-14-year-old-student-with-math-homework/

"Thinking About Misconceptions"

For teachers, from Jo Morgan:

https://www.resourceaholic.com/2021/10/thinking-about-misconceptions.html

Grant Sanderson Introduces Some Math Explainers

 3Blue1Brown announces some math video winners of his contest:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3Qixy-r_rQ

The Reals...

 Just another interesting Twitter thread (pointed out by Robin Houston):

https://twitter.com/sigfpe/status/1451723751591014403

Fermat Would Probably Have Loved It

 

From Steven Strogatz this morning, this tweet:

https://twitter.com/stevenstrogatz/status/1451156985131540490

Uncertainty Rules...

 Siobhan Roberts on epidemiology, uncertainty, and covid:

https://www.technologyreview.com/2021/10/15/1037195/engineering-epidemiology-pandemic-problem-solving/

Fun Times... Gather For Martin!

 Gathering For Gardner talks all week long starting Monday:

https://www.gathering4gardner.org/g4gs-celebration-of-mind-2021-10/

Hey Bayesians, What Were the Chances? ;)

 https://www.npr.org/2021/10/14/1045990641/meteorite-canada-british-columbia-bed

Thinking Outside the Box (...well, sort of)

 Oh, we'll revisit Futility Closet today, this time for "Airy's Paradox":

https://www.futilitycloset.com/2021/10/08/order-3/

Don't Believe Your Eyes

 A nice geometric illusion from Futility Closet:

https://www.futilitycloset.com/2021/10/07/a-geometric-illusion/

Poetry Combinatorics

 So you say you always wanted to write sonnets, well....

https://mathwithbaddrawings.com/2021/09/30/a-hundred-thousand-billion-poems/

A Grim Paradox

 You've likely heard of Thomson's Lamp paradox (or you can look it up), but have you heard of the Grim Reaper paradox:

https://www.futilitycloset.com/2021/10/02/the-grim-reaper-paradox/

Drugs and People, Duhhh

 People's genetics and metabolism differ... this is such an obvious truism that it's kind of a shame articles like this even need to be written... but folks prefer thinking along binary, all-or-nothing, black-and-white lines, instead of in terms of continuities and nuances, so yes it needs be said aloud:

https://theconversation.com/why-prescription-drugs-can-work-differently-for-different-people-168645

'Self-organization in Nature'

 Ooooh, sandpile math (via J. Ellenberg)... fascinating:

 https://nautil.us/issue/107/the-edge/the-math-of-the-amazing-sandpile

Carnival of Math

 An array of mathy readings again from this month's Carnival of Math:

https://hardmath123.github.io/carnival-of-mathematics-198.html

Terry Tao Tackles Probability and Risk

 Proposing a unit of measurement of risk:

https://terrytao.wordpress.com/2021/10/03/nines-of-safety-a-proposed-unit-of-measurement-of-risk/

The "Extreme Ordinariness" of Prodigies

Of genius and childhood:

https://www.futilitycloset.com/2021/10/01/youth-and-genius/

Jo Boaler with Lex Fridman

 Math educator Jo Boaler recently spent 90 minutes with Lex Fridman on his podcast:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZnGSVwIpeU

The Paradox That Splits Philosophers Down the Middle (Newcomb's)

 Alex Bellos on Newcomb's paradox:

https://www.theguardian.com/science/alexs-adventures-in-numberland/2016/nov/28/newcombs-problem-divides-philosophers-which-side-are-you-on

Elliptic Curves... Not So Simple

 A bit early for Halloween, but spooky nonetheless: elliptic curves, via the Simons Foundation:

https://www.simonsfoundation.org/2021/09/27/elliptic-curves-simple-equations-still-shrouded-in-mystery/

Math Meets Language... and Category Theory

Grant Sanderson in conversation (90+ mins.) with Tai-Danae Bradley:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvRY3r-b0QI

 

Lob's Theorem and Curry's Paradox

 Fitting coincidence that after yesterday's post this piece also on self-reference should come up:

https://inference-review.com/article/loebs-theorem-and-currys-paradox

Retro....

 Almost every year I find some excuse to run one of my favorite quotes ever from a math volume, a bit of linguistics and recursive philosophy from provocateur David Berlinski in "The King of Infinite Space" (about Euclid). Berlinski is nothing if not an artiste of wordplay, and recently finishing "Shape" by Jordan Ellenberg's (no slouch at wordsmithing himself; though a bit more fun), simply reminded me of it once again:

"Like any other mathematician, Euclid took a good deal for granted that he never noticed.  In order to say anything at all, we must suppose the world stable enough so that some things stay the same, even as other things change. This idea of general stability is self-referential. In order to express what it says, one must assume what it means.

"Euclid expressed himself in Greek; I am writing in English. Neither Euclid's Greek nor my English says of itself that it is Greek or English. It is hardly helpful to be told that a book is written in English if one must also be told that written in English is written in English. Whatever the language, its identification is a part of the background. This particular background must necessarily remain in the back, any effort to move it forward leading to an infinite regress, assurances requiring assurances in turn.

"These examples suggest what is at work in any attempt to describe once and for all the beliefs 'on which all men base their proofs.' It suggests something about the ever-receding landscape of demonstration and so ratifies the fact that even the most impeccable of proofs is an artifact."

Scientific American, Scott Aaronson, and Warning Against Indifference

 Scott Aaronson wonders aloud if Scientific American was Sokal’d in this posting:

https://www.scottaaronson.com/blog/?p=5850

…but perhaps my favorite part is this bit he adds in the comment section:

“Yeah, I’ve been bummed about it all day, and there’s a part of me that’s genuinely surprised how all my friends are just ignoring it and going about their day. It’s like, do they not understand what Scientific American used to be, in its 50s/60s/70s heyday? Can they not see that for Scientific American to print such self-parodying dreck is as shocking, in its way, as for the January 6 insurrectionists to gallavant all over the US Capitol waving Confederate flags? Or was no one else shocked by that either? I mean, if you support either ravaging of our culture’s main symbols of democracy and reason, then by all means say so, celebrate, cheer in the streets about this, but for God or Bertrand Russell’s sake don’t be indifferent about it! 🙂”

Cantor's Attic

 Just can't get enough of Georg Cantor?...want to explore his work/ideas further?... Is that what's buggin' you! In a tweet yesterday, Richard Elwes pointed out this site doing just that:

http://cantorsattic.info/Cantor%27s_Attic

Getting Into "Shape"....

 Recently finished Jordan Ellenberg’s latest, “Shape” (plenty of reviews online), a great followup to his fantastic “How Not To Be Wrong” volume. It’s 400+ pages of “the hidden geometry” of life, but this is not your daddy’s (or necessarily even your own) geometry, rather a bit more modern and diverse take than Euclid ever provided. Anyway, great read, though possibly a tad more pedagogical than his earlier best-selling work, if only because much of the subject matter is drier or just more pedagogical in nature (Ellenberg’s writing style always enlivens it though).

With all that said, at the end of the volume Jordan lists many of the topics he wanted or considered including in the book, but in the end left out… another great, varied list of subjects (that sound to me even more interesting than the topics he did include!), so hopefully, maybe, perhaps, Jordan is now hard-at-work on a third volume!?

Hou Yifan... Female Chess Champion

 The rise of a female chess champion (h/t to S. Strogatz):

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/08/02/hou-yifan-and-the-wait-for-chess-first-woman-world-champion

Jordan Ellenberg In BBC Podcast

 9 minutes of Jordan Ellenberg:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p09w8sr2

A Few Health Numbers (by the book... or, buy the book)

 Recently finished, and much enjoyed, Dr. Robert Lustig’s latest volume on nutrition/health/food, “Metabolical,” a fairly searing take on the American diet and how it got to be this way. Toward the end of the volume comes this passage hinting at the insidious countervailing pressures at work:

“Which addictive substance is the cheapest to produce and procure, yet the most expensive burden to society? Nicotine used to be the cheapest. At its worst, lung cancer claimed 443,000 people a year and cost healthcare $14 billion annually. But it also made the U.S. government lots of money, because the median smoker died at age sixty-four, before they started collecting Social Security and Medicare….”

[he goes on to dispatch with alcohol in a similar vein, before coming to his conclusion that “By far and away, the most expensive burden to society is sugar,” which he has spent much of the book detailing].

Not terribly mathematical (though plenty of facts and figures), but a good, if scathing, read on processed food in America.

Probability and Randomness via Twitter

 Oh, just another interesting Twitter thread:

https://twitter.com/svpino/status/1437793433255620633

"Dimension" -- What Is It?

 "Dimension"... like many intuitive ideas, not so easily defined and grasped:

https://www.quantamagazine.org/a-mathematicians-guided-tour-through-high-dimensions-20210913/

What's Been Happenin'

 Another round-up of monthly mathy news from The Aperiodical:

https://aperiodical.com/2021/09/aperiodical-news-roundup-august-and-half-of-september-2021/

Mathematics & Category Theory

 Emily Riehl covering category theory for the uninitiated:

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/infinity-category-theory-offers-a-birds-eye-view-of-mathematics/

Math... High School Requirement or Not?

 An interesting Twitter thread on secondary math education:

https://twitter.com/mikeandallie/status/1437527668115791873

Teaching "Mathematical Habits of Mind"

 From Sam Shah:

https://samjshah.com/2021/09/12/mathematical-habits-of-mind/

Two Great Ones Discuss Progress In Science

 A fascinating interview (via AMS Notices) with Steve Smale and Lee Hartwell:

https://www.ams.org/journals/notices/202109/rnoti-p1578.pdf

A Little Weekend Reading (via Stephen Wolfram)

  Stephen Wolfram continues with his computational paradigm:

https://writings.stephenwolfram.com/2021/09/even-beyond-physics-introducing-multicomputation-as-a-fourth-general-paradigm-for-theoretical-science/

Podcast With Donald Knuth

 Wow, 2+ hours of Donald Knuth talking with Lex Fridman:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EE1R8FYUJm0

Multiplying With John....

On your marks, get set... multiply!:

https://www.johndcook.com/blog/2021/09/09/double-triple-quadruple/

Solvable.... Yes

 A tricky one from Futility Closet today:

https://www.futilitycloset.com/2021/09/08/exam-week/

Dilbert Espouses...

 An oldie-but-goodie:

Dilbert.com

Just Another ASMR Video

Shaving cream....

Have the Mice Had Their Coffee Yet... ;)

 Mouse studies... time-of-day may matter!:

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/many-mouse-studies-happen-at-the-wrong-time-of-day/

A Tweet For Folks Who Love Big Numbers

 5^(69^96) ... have at it:

https://twitter.com/johncarlosbaez/status/1433800220383584256

4, 6, 8, 12, 20... Points On a Sphere You Ask

 An apocryphal story via John Cook:

https://www.johndcook.com/blog/2021/09/02/spreading-out-points-on-a-sphere/

Jo Boaler with Lex Fridman

 Math educator Jo Boaler recently spent 90 minutes with Lex Fridman on his podcast:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZnGSVwIpeU

Just For Fun & Amazement (illusions)

This is old (…well around 5 years old), but Cliff Pickover retweeted one of my favorite static illusions yesterday, the “Scintillating Grid Illusion” by gamer Will Kerslake. The grid contains 12 black dots at intersections but you can’t see them all at the same time! Be befuddled:

Here’s one piece on it:

https://www.sciencealert.com/here-s-why-you-can-t-see-all-12-black-dots-in-this-crazy-optical-illusion

...shortly after preparing the above post yesterday, I then came across this Tweet introducing me to the Ames Window motion illusion, which was possibly new to me (and definitely worth checking out if you're unfamiliar with it):

https://twitter.com/gunsnrosesgirl3/status/1432793383760764938

And here is Veritasium's great take on it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBap_Lp-0oc

Confusing Covid Claims/Hospitalizations....

 Jordan Ellenberg points to this posting for those confused by recent covid statistics/claims:

https://www.covid-datascience.com/post/israeli-data-how-can-efficacy-vs-severe-disease-be-strong-when-60-of-hospitalized-are-vaccinated

...and Ellenberg himself is in Washington Post today on same topic:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2021/08/31/covid-israel-hospitalization-rates-simpsons-paradox/

Analysis With Norman J. Wildberger

 Yesterday’s post with Joel David Hamkins led me in turn to Daniel Rubin’s hour-long similar interview a month ago with math iconoclast Norman J. Wildberger:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=edh5bbgSKqo

Philosophizing With J. D. Hawkins

 IF you can find the time for it, a 2+ hour new interview (podcast) with mathematician/philosopher Joel David Hamkins:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=acjJ5-OSuZM

AI, Language, Translation, Go

AlphaGo success, language-correction not-so-much:

https://rjlipton.wpcomstaging.com/2021/08/26/great-go-glitchy-grammar/

Logic of the Chessboard

 From Futility Closet, another checkerboard problem:

https://www.futilitycloset.com/2021/08/26/paint-job/

Compilation of Statistics News

New issue/compilation of "Statistical Thinking News" via Frank Harrell out:

https://paper.li/stn

 

To Retract Or Not To Retract (...is that the question)

 An example of Journal 'expression of concern' vs. retraction, via Retraction Watch:

https://retractionwatch.com/2021/08/23/readers-puzzle-over-marketing-journals-failures-to-retract/

Revving Up The Brain on Monday

 A few logic problems (via Alex Bellos) to start your week:

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2021/aug/23/can-you-solve-it-logical-philosophers

I Think Therefore I Am....

 Ambling a bit further from mathematics, an extensive listing of philosophy podcasts:

https://truesciphi.org/phipod_series.html

A Stripey Triangle

 From Presh Talwalkar yet another triangle geometry problem to end the week:

https://mindyourdecisions.com/blog/2021/08/16/triangle-stripes-problem/

Great Review of "The Creativity Code"

 Fascinating review by Michael Harris of Marcus du Sautoy's latest, "The Creativity Code":

 https://siliconreckoner.substack.com/p/book-review-the-creativity-code-by

...and somewhat related, this recent piece on "common sense" and AI:

https://theconversation.com/an-ai-expert-explains-why-its-hard-to-give-computers-something-you-take-for-granted-common-sense-165600

Null Hypothesis Testing... Thumbs Down

 A little introduction to the history and basics of significance testing in "squishy" psychology:

https://www.sciencenews.org/article/statistical-significance-p-value-null-hypothesis-origins

Funny Dice....

 Funny dice (and probabilities) via John Cook (…and Donald Knuth… and, Garrison Keillor):

https://www.johndcook.com/blog/2021/08/16/lake-wobegon-dice/

Reasoning, Induction, Math Stories...

 The latest essay from Jim Propp:

https://mathenchant.wordpress.com/2021/08/16/reckoning-and-reasoning/

More Geometry Whilst Re-visiting John Conway

 A little John Conway courtesy of Futility Closet:

https://www.futilitycloset.com/2021/08/15/the-conway-circle-theorem/

Good Future For Math Jobs (variety/opportunity)

 Jeremy Kun surveys the landscape of math jobs for math fans (especially software-related):

https://buttondown.email/j2kun/archive/a-survey-of-mathy-jobs/

For Geometry and Triangle Fans (especially)

 A fun li'l Twitter geometry thread from yesterday:

https://twitter.com/DavidKButlerUoA/status/1426286914076692480

Bayesianism and Statistics Curricula

 Some basics:

https://www.cambridgemaths.org/blogs/binomials-and-the-basics-of-bayesianism/

Another 'Jewish-American-born theoretical physicist named Steve' Passes On

 Scott Aaronson memorializes another passing physicist and explains a little quantum computing along the way:

https://www.scottaaronson.com/blog/?p=5730

It's A (Math) Carnival

 The latest 'Carnival of Mathematics' (#196) is now up for your perusal:

https://thatsmaths.com/2021/08/12/carnival-of-mathematics/

July Math News Re-visited

 "The Aperiodical" summarizes varied math news from the month of July:

https://aperiodical.com/2021/08/aperiodical-news-roundup-july-2021/

Combinatorics, Language, Communication

 ...and, the Necker Cube:

https://inference-review.com/letter/languages-and-the-necker-cube

Put On Your (Lateral) Thinking Caps

 To begin the week, 6 new 'lateral thinking' puzzles from Futility Closet:

https://www.futilitycloset.com/2021/08/09/podcast-episode-353-lateral-thinking-puzzles/

"Let's do this"... Listen Up New Teachers

 The incomparable Fawn Nguyen has a message for new math teachers:

https://www.fawnnguyen.com/teach/dear-new-teachers

"Total Gibberish"

 H/T to Cliff Pickover for recently linking to this 7-yr.-old piece on gibberish in science (makes you wonder a tad about what's sitting out there right now in the journal stacks?):

https://gizmodo.com/over-120-science-journal-papers-pulled-for-being-total-1534110496

Cheating At Chess... So Many Ways

 "Gödel's Lost Letter..." takes a long look at chess-cheating:

https://rjlipton.wpcomstaging.com/2021/08/04/turning-the-tables-on-cheating/

The Power of Palindromes...

 Just a little number fun from Christian Lawson-Perfect:

https://somethingorotherwhatever.com/sum-of-3-palindromes/

Math Illiteracy Is Long-running

 How long (if ever) before education tackles the math innumeracy of the populace... and what will be the eventual consequences of not doing so (latest from Keith Devlin)?

https://www.mathvalues.org/masterblog/when-the-media-get-the-math-wrong-badly-wrong

Not-so Epic AI

Another critical look at algorithmic medicine: 

https://mindmatters.ai/2021/08/an-epic-failure-overstated-ai-claims-in-medicine/

Whoa, 4 Colors Not So Sufficient...

 Things never seem to be as simple as they appear... "Computational Complexity" notes that, subtly, 4 colors are not so sufficient in the Four Color Map Theorem as most assume...:

https://blog.computationalcomplexity.org/2021/08/do-four-colors-suffice.html

Veritasium Does the Collatz Conjecture

 After the usual routine introduction to the Collatz Conjecture, Veritasium plunges on with this wonderful recent exploration of it, enjoyable by young and old:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=094y1Z2wpJg

"Real-world" Covid Stats

The ongoing problems of 'real-world' stats and Covid math: 

https://junkcharts.typepad.com/numbersruleyourworld/2021/07/funny-math-out-of-la.html

Another Logic Test

 From Presh Talwalkar another logic conundrum to end the week:

https://mindyourdecisions.com/blog/2021/07/27/balls-in-sack-logic-test/

Ahhh, No Ties...

 'Rock, paper, scissors' fans, a puzzle from Futility Closet:

https://www.futilitycloset.com/2021/07/28/implementia/

Midweek ASMR

 Time to slip in another ASMR video. "Angelo" has probably become my favorite within the shoeshine genre, so yet another from him:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oTQ8M9FLRoc

Chess Thoughts....

 A lot of folks interested in mathematics are also interested in chess, so without further adieu, a post with some interesting chess thoughts:

https://statmodeling.stat.columbia.edu/2021/07/25/some-open-questions-in-chess/

Waxing Eloquent on Weinberg...

 There have been, and will be, many tributes to Steven Weinberg this week; I highly recommend this very personal one from Scott Aaronson:

https://www.scottaaronson.com/blog/?p=5566

Of Lines, Curves, and Points....

 Patrick Honner looking at lines and curves, and making a few rational (and irrational) points along the way:

https://www.quantamagazine.org/how-simple-math-reveals-rational-points-on-curves-20210722/

New Newsletter From Michael Harris

 Mathematician Michael Harris, author of "Mathematics Without Apologies," announces a new newsletter to concern itself with AI and the mechanization of mathematics:

https://mathematicswithoutapologies.wordpress.com/2021/07/21/announcing-a-new-newsletter-on-mechanizing-mathematics/

Models and Monte Carlo

 This weekend you can either breeze your way through Tolstoy's "War and Peace" or slowly work your way through the latest from Brian Hayes ;))

http://bit-player.org/2021/three-months-in-monte-carlo

Emmy Noether Remembered

 Emmy Noether and rings make it into "The Conversation":

https://theconversation.com/emmy-noether-faced-sexism-and-nazism-100-years-later-her-contributions-to-ring-theory-still-influence-modern-math-163245

Interesting Math....

 Starting with this equality (from a Cliff Pickover tweet):

           

Futility Closet points out this further elaboration:

http://www.mathistopheles.co.uk/2015/04/16/699/

Bitcoin, Efficient Markets.... and Benford's Law

 From Gary Smith, Benford, bitcoin, and bogus prices:

https://mindmatters.ai/2021/07/using-benfords-law-to-detect-bitcoin-manipulation/

ADDENDUM (7/15):  Andrew Gelman weighs in a bit on Smith's piece here:

https://statmodeling.stat.columbia.edu/2021/07/15/using-benfords-law-to-detect-bitcoin-manipulation/

Stephen Wolfram with Sean Carroll

 Haven't had a chance to view it myself yet, but Sean Carroll's latest guest on his Mindscape podcast is Stephen Wolfram, so ought be interesting (over to 2.5 hrs.):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bMYtEKjHs0

Monday Brainteasers

A few Alex Bellos puzzles (actually from philosopher Joel David Hamkins) to jumpstart your week:

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2021/jul/12/can-you-solve-it-oxford-university-admissions-questions

Carnival!

 ICYMI, here was July's very varied Carnival of Math (the 195th such compendium), full of interesting reads for your weekend:

http://stormbear.com/carnival-of-mathematics-195-july-2021/

Language Is Algebraic, From Syntax to Semantics...

 From Tai-Danae Bradley a primer on ‘language, statistics, and category theory’ (parts 1 & 2):

https://www.math3ma.com/blog/language-statistics-category-theory-part-1

https://www.math3ma.com/blog/language-statistics-category-theory-part-2

Mathy News From the Month of June

 June math news as collected by The Aperiodical:

https://aperiodical.com/2021/07/aperiodical-news-roundup-june-2021/

Rational and Irrational Answers (on a State Exam)

Patrick Honner critiques a question/answer on the NY State Regents Exam:

https://mrhonner.com/archives/21115

Science Musings Fit For a Sunday Sermon

 Joselle (...and David Deutsch), at "Mathematics Rising," waxes eloquently about knowledge, mathematics, and the universe... nice read/contemplation for a Sunday morning:

https://mathrising.com/?p=1800

Vitally Linked, Music and Math

 Have always found the linkage between math and music interesting, especially since encountering so many individuals over time who were music majors with math minors, or, vice-versa. Anyway, noticed newish book during trip to bookstore this morning that looked interesting (but haven't read, so just supposing), "Music, Math, and Mind: the physics and neuroscience of music" by David Sulzer:

http://cup.columbia.edu/book/music-math-and-mind/9780231193795

https://tinyurl.com/yz2zxcuc

Hahh!

 A little end-of-week humor... I don't see a lot of new math humor these days that really makes me chuckle any more, but this bumper sticker recently seen on Twitter (H/T Simon Pampena) did (...though perhaps it's quite old and I've just missed it or forgotten it):

Mind-twister

 I've talked of self-describing sentences or "autograms" here before (I love 'em, and their Gödelian flavor!), and recently Futility Closet posted this fine example (with Lee Sallows involved as he often is):

https://www.futilitycloset.com/2021/07/01/inventory-9/

Scaling, Terry Tao, and the NY Times

 Gödel's Lost Letter... comments on scaling, Terry Tao, and the NY Times:

https://rjlipton.wpcomstaging.com/2021/06/29/scaling-and-fame/

Correlation and Causation (...for Birdwatching Mathematicians)

 NPR recently offered this short piece on local bird deaths and brood X cicadas:

https://www.npr.org/2021/06/28/1011043752/correlation-not-causation-brood-x-cicadas-and-regional-bird-deaths

Pubpeer to the Rescue...

 The power of post-publication peer review:

https://statmodeling.stat.columbia.edu/2021/06/25/this-awesome-pubpeer-thread-is-about-80-times-better-than-the-original-paper/

Ponder This.... (a Twitter thread puzzle)

 Recent non-intuitive puzzle on Twitter from Joel David Hamkins:

https://twitter.com/JDHamkins/status/1407605175154532353

Statements About Statements... About Statements

 In case you were hoping to blow your mind today Futility Closet can aid in the process:

https://www.futilitycloset.com/2021/06/23/fermats-last-theorem/

No Surprise -- Worldwide Covid Herd Immunity Not In the Works

 Global world herd immunity for Covid-19 not even close to reachable... but did anyone ever seriously think it would be:

https://theconversation.com/global-herd-immunity-remains-out-of-reach-because-of-inequitable-vaccine-distribution-99-of-people-in-poor-countries-are-unvaccinated-162040

The Statistics Skirmishes Move Along...

 Finally, an official statement from the ASA task force on statistical significance and replicability:

https://errorstatistics.com/2021/06/20/at-long-last-the-asa-presidents-task-force-statement-on-statistical-significance-and-replicability/

Solving Serial Murders....

 Perhaps for the true-crime podcast addicts out there a new podcast, with at least some math involvement, about a law enforcement algorithm for tracking down serial murderers; not necessarily for the sensitive or faint-hearted, but if crime investigation is one of your things, this is (I think) the first of a 2-part episode:

https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-algorithm-83051915/

Can Research Integrity Ever Prevail in a Marketplace...?

 "Research integrity"... perhaps once assumed, is now threatened and very much in question given multiple pressures that abound:

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/08989621.2021.1937603

(H/T to Ivan Oransky)

"Routine bad science using routine bad methods…"

 Gelman tells us "Don’t hate the player, hate the game" (bad psychological science):

https://statmodeling.stat.columbia.edu/2021/06/16/wow-just-wow-if-you-think-psychological-science-as-bad-in-the-2010-2015-era-you-cant-imagine-how-bad-it-was-back-in-1999/

More Jordan....

 In case you were wanting almost 3 more delicious hours of Jordan Ellenberg hitting on a range of topics (in conversation with Lex Fridman), you got it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tueAcSiiqYA

Markov Chains, from Free Will to Baby Names

 Jordan Ellenberg on English language and Markov chains:

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/a-random-walk-through-the-english-language/

Quasicrystals In Atomic Debris

 "Mathematically perfect quasicrystals—a 'forbidden' kind of matter whose existence had long been contested" were born with the 1945 nuclear bomb test in New Mexico:

https://thebulletin.org/2021/06/what-are-atomic-bomb-quasicrystals-and-why-do-they-matter/

Modern Day Spy vs. Spy....

 

Hacking the hackers:

https://blog.wolfram.com/2021/06/09/darkside-update-the-fbi-hacks-the-hackers/

Quantum Computing Primer

 Who better than Scott Aaronson to explain a bit about quantum computing to you:

https://www.quantamagazine.org/why-is-quantum-computing-so-hard-to-explain-20210608/

Scholarly Pursuits Gone Awry

 A fun read from Andrew Gelman on questionable scholarly work and "the tipping point":

https://statmodeling.stat.columbia.edu/2021/06/04/when-does-a-misunderstanding-reach-the-point-where-it-is-recognized-to-be-flat-out-ridiculous/

Friday ASMR

OK, for anyone wanting a li'l ASMR to begin the weekend, here's 3+ hours of finger-tapping for your delectation:

New Bio of Gödel

 A li'l beach reading  ;)   

A new biography of Kurt Gödel is out (h/t to Natalie Wolchover for pointing it out):

https://www.amazon.com/Journey-Edge-Reason-Life-Gödel/dp/1324005440/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=godel&qid=1622711647&s=books&sr=1-2

Collatz Conjecture... perhaps a new approach

 For any in the mood for some heavier reading here's "An Automated Approach To the Collatz Conjecture" newly out from Scott Aaronson et.al.:

https://arxiv.org/pdf/2105.14697.pdf

Jordan Ellenberg via Quanta

 From Quanta Magazine this timely portrait/interview with Jordan Ellenberg:

https://www.quantamagazine.org/jordan-ellenberg-connects-math-to-creativity-20210527/

Must Human Civilization Have Numbers...

 Lengthy, interesting, thought-provoking new piece from Stephen Wolfram asking 'if numbers are inevitable?' (and concluding that at least for now, for humans, they are):

https://writings.stephenwolfram.com/2021/05/how-inevitable-is-the-concept-of-numbers/

Philosophers At (Word)Play...

 From Futility Closet today, the paradox of a paradoxical paradox (if you catch my drift):

https://www.futilitycloset.com/2021/05/26/the-paradox-of-the-question/

Veritasium Tackles Gödel

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HeQX2HjkcNo

Catriona Agg via Aperiodical

 A podcast from Aperiodical with Catriona Agg, geometry-puzzler-extraoridnaire:

https://aperiodical.com/2021/05/mathematical-objects-arbelos/

New Volume From Sunil Singh

 A new (and final) book from Sunil Singh, "Chasing Rabbits":

https://sunilsingh-42118.medium.com/lost-in-a-forest-finding-our-mathematical-soul-in-the-effervescence-of-confusion-and-curiosity-9f55b3108d60

Fightin' Words (perhaps) From Blasphemer Ben Orlin

 Blasphemies about mathematical proof versus explanations, courtesy of Ben Orlin:

https://mathwithbaddrawings.com/2021/05/12/against-mathematical-proof/

Emily Riehl With Sean Carroll

 Sean Carroll with Emily Riehl in his latest Mindscape podcast, on topology and category theory (~75 mins.):

ASMR Saturday

 Will head into weekend with another Angelo shoeshine ASMR video:

                        

Gelman Bemoaning Postmodernism

 For today's entertainment, Andrew Gelman rants about postmodernism, Elon Musk, and spending gov't. money:

https://statmodeling.stat.columbia.edu/2021/05/06/postmodernism-for-zillionaires/

“Postmodernism” in academia is the approach of saying nonsense using a bunch of technical-sounding jargon. At least, I think that’s what postmodernism is . . ."  -- A. Gelman

 

"Progress" In Mathematics...

 The always interesting, if not indeed provocative, Michael Harris muses critically (in the first of what he says will be “a series of texts”) on “progress” and “the mechanization of mathematics” (he even manages to get Godwin’s Law in):

https://mathematicswithoutapologies.wordpress.com/2021/05/05/does-mathematics-progress/

"...the notion of 'progress' in its current usage is so thoroughly entwined with technological determinism, European colonialism, genocide, and environmental devastation, that it is a struggle to find an interpretation of the word, applicable to mathematics, whose connotations are unequivocally positive."

                                                                        -- Michael Harris

Of Math and Twitter

 I almost find it hard to imagine that there's anyone engaged in math who isn't by now on Twitter, but if in fact you are one such person and debating over taking the plunge, then Ben Orlin has written a post just for you:

https://mathwithbaddrawings.com/2021/05/04/advice-to-math-teachers-joining-twitter/

(...seriously, the incredible array of math resources, people, and inspiration accessible through Twitter ought not be missed... though, granted, venture into other corners of Twitter at your own peril ;))

A New Carnival

 The 193rd Carnival of Mathematics is here:

https://blog.mathoffthegrid.com/2021/05/carnival-of-mathematics-193.html

4 People, 4 Names, 4 Professions, and a Table

 To start your week off another li'l brain-twister from Futility Closet:

https://www.futilitycloset.com/2021/05/01/seating-trouble/