Sunday, October 17, 2021

Uncertainty Rules...

Siobhan Roberts on epidemiology, uncertainty, and covid:

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

Saturday, October 16, 2021

Fun Times... Gather For Martin!

Gathering For Gardner talks all week long starting Monday:

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

Thursday, October 14, 2021

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/

Tuesday, October 12, 2021

A nice geometric illusion from Futility Closet:

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

Monday, October 11, 2021

Poetry Combinatorics

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

Saturday, October 9, 2021

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

Friday, October 8, 2021

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

Thursday, October 7, 2021

'Self-organization in Nature'

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

Wednesday, October 6, 2021

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

Tuesday, October 5, 2021

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/

Monday, October 4, 2021

The "Extreme Ordinariness" of Prodigies

Of genius and childhood:

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

Saturday, October 2, 2021

Jo Boaler with Lex Fridman

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

Thursday, September 30, 2021

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/

Wednesday, September 29, 2021

Math Meets Language... and Category Theory

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

Tuesday, September 28, 2021

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

Monday, September 27, 2021

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."

Saturday, September 25, 2021

Scientific American, Scott Aaronson, and Warning Against Indifference

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

…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! 🙂

Friday, September 24, 2021

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

Thursday, September 23, 2021

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!?

Wednesday, September 22, 2021

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

Monday, September 20, 2021

Jordan Ellenberg In BBC Podcast

9 minutes of Jordan Ellenberg:

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

Sunday, September 19, 2021

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.

Friday, September 17, 2021

"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/

Thursday, September 16, 2021

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/

Wednesday, September 15, 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/

Sunday, September 12, 2021

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

Saturday, September 11, 2021

A Little Weekend Reading (via Stephen Wolfram)

Stephen Wolfram continues with his computational paradigm:

Friday, September 10, 2021

Podcast With Donald Knuth

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

Thursday, September 9, 2021

Multiplying With John....

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

Wednesday, September 8, 2021

Solvable.... Yes

A tricky one from Futility Closet today:

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

Tuesday, September 7, 2021

Dilbert Espouses...

An oldie-but-goodie:

Monday, September 6, 2021

Just Another ASMR Video

Shaving cream....

Sunday, September 5, 2021

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/

Saturday, September 4, 2021

A Tweet For Folks Who Love Big Numbers

5^(69^96) ... have at it:

Friday, September 3, 2021

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

An apocryphal story via John Cook:

Thursday, September 2, 2021

Jo Boaler with Lex Fridman

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

Wednesday, September 1, 2021

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:

...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):

And here is Veritasium's great take on it:

Tuesday, August 31, 2021

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:

Sunday, August 29, 2021

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:

Saturday, August 28, 2021

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:

Friday, August 27, 2021

AI, Language, Translation, Go

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

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

Thursday, August 26, 2021

Logic of the Chessboard

From Futility Closet, another checkerboard problem:

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

Wednesday, August 25, 2021

Compilation of Statistics News

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

https://paper.li/stn

Tuesday, August 24, 2021

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

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

Monday, August 23, 2021

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

Sunday, August 22, 2021

I Think Therefore I Am....

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

https://truesciphi.org/phipod_series.html

Saturday, August 21, 2021

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/

Friday, August 20, 2021

Great Review of "The Creativity Code"

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

...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

Thursday, August 19, 2021

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

Wednesday, August 18, 2021

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/

Tuesday, August 17, 2021

Reasoning, Induction, Math Stories...

The latest essay from Jim Propp:

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

Monday, August 16, 2021

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/

Friday, August 13, 2021

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

Thursday, August 12, 2021

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/

Wednesday, August 11, 2021

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/

Tuesday, August 10, 2021

Combinatorics, Language, Communication

...and, the Necker Cube:

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

Monday, August 9, 2021

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/

Sunday, August 8, 2021

"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

Saturday, August 7, 2021

"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

Friday, August 6, 2021

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/

Thursday, August 5, 2021

The Power of Palindromes...

Just a little number fun from Christian Lawson-Perfect:

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

Wednesday, August 4, 2021

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)?

Tuesday, August 3, 2021

Not-so Epic AI

Another critical look at algorithmic medicine:

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

Monday, August 2, 2021

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

Sunday, August 1, 2021

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:

Saturday, July 31, 2021

"Real-world" Covid Stats

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

Friday, July 30, 2021

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/

Thursday, July 29, 2021

Ahhh, No Ties...

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

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

Wednesday, July 28, 2021

Midweek ASMR

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

Monday, July 26, 2021

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/

Sunday, July 25, 2021

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

Thursday, July 22, 2021

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/

Wednesday, July 21, 2021

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

Saturday, July 17, 2021

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

Thursday, July 15, 2021

Interesting Math....

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

$\displaystyle \sqrt{2\frac{2}{3}} = 2\sqrt{\frac{2}{3}}$

Futility Closet points out this further elaboration:

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

Wednesday, July 14, 2021

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/

Tuesday, July 13, 2021

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.):

Monday, July 12, 2021

Monday Brainteasers

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

Friday, July 9, 2021

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/

Thursday, July 8, 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

Wednesday, July 7, 2021

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/

Tuesday, July 6, 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

Sunday, July 4, 2021

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

Saturday, July 3, 2021

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

Friday, July 2, 2021

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):

Thursday, July 1, 2021

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/

Wednesday, June 30, 2021

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/

Tuesday, June 29, 2021

Correlation and Causation (...for Birdwatching Mathematicians)

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

Friday, June 25, 2021

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

Thursday, June 24, 2021

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/

Wednesday, June 23, 2021

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

Tuesday, June 22, 2021

The Statistics Skirmishes Move Along...

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

Monday, June 21, 2021

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/

Sunday, June 20, 2021

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)

Wednesday, June 16, 2021

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

Sunday, June 13, 2021

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:

Friday, June 11, 2021

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/

Thursday, June 10, 2021

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/

Wednesday, June 9, 2021

Modern Day Spy vs. Spy....

Hacking the hackers:

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

Tuesday, June 8, 2021

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/

Sunday, June 6, 2021

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, June 4, 2021

Friday ASMR

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

Thursday, June 3, 2021

New Bio of Gödel

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

Tuesday, June 1, 2021

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

Friday, May 28, 2021

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/

Thursday, May 27, 2021

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/

Friday, May 21, 2021

Catriona Agg via Aperiodical

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

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

Monday, May 17, 2021

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

Wednesday, May 12, 2021

Fightin' Words (perhaps) From Blasphemer Ben Orlin

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

Monday, May 10, 2021

Emily Riehl With Sean Carroll

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

Saturday, May 8, 2021

ASMR Saturday

Will head into weekend with another Angelo shoeshine ASMR video:

Friday, May 7, 2021

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

Thursday, May 6, 2021

"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

Wednesday, May 5, 2021

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:

(...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 ;))

Tuesday, May 4, 2021

A New Carnival

The 193rd Carnival of Mathematics is here:

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

Monday, May 3, 2021

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/

Friday, April 30, 2021

Recommending a Podcast Sight Unseen... or Heard

I haven't even had time to listen to this yet (sometime this weekend though), but Ben Orlin recommends it (ohh, and he happens to be on it), and that's good enough for me:

https://infinitelyirrational.podbean.com/e/the-strange-case-of-sir-newton-and-mr-leibniz/

Wednesday, April 28, 2021

The "Super Bowl" for Entomologists

Those prime-number cicadas are on their way!:

Tuesday, April 27, 2021

The Shared Beauty of Math and Music

Another post, like the previous one, linking mathematics and art (in this instance music), this time courtesy of the Simons Foundation:

https://www.simonsfoundation.org/2021/04/27/finding-beauty-at-the-piano-and-elegance-in-mathematics/

Monday, April 26, 2021

Math, Chalk, and Art

Quirky little piece from Scientific American on mathematics and chalkboards (as art):

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-art-of-mathematics-in-chalk/

"Even when it is inscrutable, math is beautiful....

As Wynne began to travel to different universities to meet more mathematicians, she discovered how diverse their chalkboard styles are. 'Some were very clean and neat and very carefully considered,' she recalls. 'And some were just this explosion and chaos. The chalkboards almost felt like portraits of the person and depended on the personality of the mathematician'.

Thursday, April 22, 2021

There Are Proofs, and, Then There Are Proofs...

This is above my pay grade ;) but some of you may likely find this Gil Kalai piece stimulating:

https://gilkalai.wordpress.com/2021/04/22/the-probabilistic-proof-that-2400-593-is-a-prime-a-revolutionary-new-type-of-mathematical-proof-or-not-a-proof-at-all/

Thursday, April 15, 2021

ACM Prize In Computing

Deservedly, Scott Aaronson wins a prize... and, asks for charitable suggestions:

https://www.scottaaronson.com/blog/?p=5448

Tuesday, April 13, 2021

Tuesday ASMR

Haven't posted an ASMR video for awhile, so without further adieu...:

Thursday, April 8, 2021

Classic....

You are hopefully familiar with knight/knave logic problems (made famous by Raymond Smullyan) — knights are truthtellers who always tell the truth, while knaves always lie. The following is a nice, interesting one (in which Leon & Larry are liars, and Tim a truthteller), originally from Smullyan, but quoted in Jason Rosenhouse’s current volume “Games For Your Mind”:

You meet triplets named Leon, Larry, and Tim. They are visibly indistinguishable, but Leon and Larry are knaves, while Tim is a knight… What one question  could you direct to one of the brothers to determine whether or not he is Larry?

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Suppose you simply randomly ask one of the brothers, “Are you Larry?” This does no good. Both Tim and Larry will say “no,” and Leon will say “yes.” A yes answer would identify Leon, but a no answer could come from either Tim or Larry, and fails to ID which is which.

If instead we ask, “Are you Tim?” then everyone will simply respond “yes” and we gain nothing.

The intriguing part is that if we ask, “Are you Leon?” the responder will give away whether he is or is not Larry. Larry will lie and answer “yes.” Tim will tell the truth and say “no,” and Leon will lie, also saying “no.” We know anyone answering “no” is not Larry, and anyone replying “yes” must be Larry.

Tuesday, April 6, 2021

Puzzle This!

987654321

Interesting Twitter thread (h/t to Keith Devlin for pointing to it) on "decreasing" and "increasing" numbers:

Sunday, April 4, 2021

Apologies for being a few days late in posting this (H/T to Colm Mulcahy for pointing to it):

If you find this video too difficult to wrap your brain around you may want to wait and bone up a bit by first reading a basic topology text, or perhaps alternatively, Jordan Ellenberg's latest upcoming volume "Shape."

Tuesday, March 30, 2021

Just fun stuff this morning, starting with two puzzles adapted from a recent edition of AARP Magazine (which somehow found its way into my hands ;)

1)  Every six-digit integer which is made up of repeated pairs of three-digit numbers, like 573,573, 831,831, or 107,107, is evenly divisible by the same four-digit integer. What is that integer?

2)  and a less mathy, word puzzle:

Look over the following 7 verbs. Taken together they share a specific, unusual trait. What is it?

bring

catch

fight

seek

teach

think

(…I’m usually fairly good with word puzzles, but this one stumped me)

…and lastly, from Twitter this recent post:

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2)  the past tense of all these verbs rhyme, even though none of the present tenses do

(brought, bought, caught, fought, sought, taught, thought)

Monday, March 29, 2021

"Lethal Force"... The Escalation of Antiscience

Antiscience has emerged as a dominant and highly lethal force, and one that threatens global security, as much as do terrorism and nuclear proliferation….

The full antiscience agenda of the Republican Party has now gone beyond our national borders. In the summer of 2020, the language of the antiscience political right in America was front and center at antimask and antivaccine rallies in Berlin, London and Paris.”

Not strictly math at all, but Scientific American piece on the “anti-science” movement (largely of the Republican Party) as the politically, societally, security threat that it is:

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-antiscience-movement-is-escalating-going-global-and-killing-thousands/

Friday, March 26, 2021

Still More Statistical Pitfalls

Timely post from Kaiser Fung on vaccinations and Simpson's Paradox:

Wednesday, March 24, 2021

Statistical Practices — the Bad Driving Out the Good

H/T to Mike Lawler for pointing out this essay (and “belly-aching”) from Darren Dahly on common statistical (mal)practice, particularly in medicine:

Too many great sentences in this (about the author's slog against research "bullshit") I’d love to quote, but will simply give you the opening lines:

I am interested in research integrity and reproducibility. I believe that a lack of statistical expertise throughout the sciences is a substantial driver of problems in these areas (poor data practices being another). I feel especially strongly about this thesis as it applies to medical research.”    — Darren Dahly

Friday, March 19, 2021

The Partisanship of Vaccine Reluctance

Andrew Gelman explores a bit of the possible sharp dichotomy (as well as confounding variables) in Republican versus Democrat reluctance to receive the Covid vaccine:

https://statmodeling.stat.columbia.edu/2021/03/18/huge-partisan-differences-in-who-wants-to-get-vaccinated/

The prospect of Republicans dying off at a far greater rate than Democrats (if such a dichotomy exists) due to their own skepticism/negligence, may cause some to recollect Melania's sentiments... but the prospect of Republican intransigence possibly gumming up the medical system for everyone else (and prolonging the pandemic), by their lack of involvement is concerning.