John Baez Recounting Ramanujan

 Anecdotes and speculation about anecdotes (the ever-interesting life of Ramanujan):

https://johncarlosbaez.wordpress.com/2022/01/30/hardy-ramanujan-and-taxi-no-1729/

But Tell Us How You Really Feel, Andrew (...about the Hoover Institution) ;)

Hmmm.... am thinking that maybe members of the Hoover Institution truly qualify as being institutionalized:

https://statmodeling.stat.columbia.edu/2022/01/29/fools-at-the-hoover-institution-the-gift-that-keeps-on-giving/

Optimize This!

 John Cook on optimizing vs. reification:

https://www.johndcook.com/blog/2022/01/28/kilometers-to-miles/

Spurious News/Correlations

 H/T to Nathan Yau at "Flowing Data" for this one:

https://davidepstein.bulletin.com/everything-in-your-fridge-causes-and-prevents-cancers

Computer Science Theory

 A listing:

https://rjlipton.wpcomstaging.com/2022/01/26/a-list-of-most-theory-blogs/

In Case You Aren't Already Puzzled Enough

Ben Orlin on some great puzzle books:

https://mathwithbaddrawings.com/2022/01/24/what-makes-a-great-puzzle-five-books-five-answers/

 

Yes Virginia, There Is Always Controversy

 Re-jiggering math education:

https://statmodeling.stat.columbia.edu/2022/01/22/controversies-over-high-school-math-curriculum-a-hope-for-the-expectation-of-more-parent-involvement-despair-over-politicization-the-usual-stuff/

Who Doesn't Love Games...

 Well, look who has a new book on the way (it could even be a game-changer... so to speak):

https://mathwithbaddrawings.com/2022/01/19/math-games-with-bad-drawings-2/

From Bad Soup to Fuzzy Logic

 As someone who has always found the “Law of the Excluded Middle” a bit nonsensical, some years ago I tried to find someone who could say a little about “fuzzy logic,” (as opposed to Aristotelian logic) only to be surprised by how few folks (mathematicians, at least) cared to address it (perhaps it falls more into the realm of philosophy, logic, or even computer science). Anyway, happy to see Jim Propp touching upon it (well, scratching the surface) in his latest piece here:

https://mathenchant.wordpress.com/2022/01/17/bad-soup/

The one sentence in the piece though that somewhat made me cringe is an almost offhand, parenthetical remark where Jim says "Well, you don’t always have to be careful, but when things are fuzzy, you’re aware that they’re fuzzy and you value the removal of the fuzz" (bold added). Actually, I think the problem that arises so often is that people DO NOT consciously or fully recognize "the fuzz" which is what allows them to speak so dichotomously (and strongly, but wrongly) about matters that are not so cut-and-dry as presented.  Even if at some level there is 'awareness' of the fuzz, if it is not fully acknowledged, then it may tend to be ignored, swept under the mental carpet like so many dust bunnies (instead of genuinely removed). And while 'fuzziness' is a particular problem in the social/behavioral sciences it can also creep stealthily into math, engineering, and their outgrowths.

Hey, Maybe Not Such a Bad Idea...

 Watch your mailbox:

https://www.theonion.com/cdc-announces-plan-to-send-every-u-s-household-pamphle-1848354068

Math at MIT

 Nice profile of an MIT math student:

https://news.mit.edu/2022/seeing-natural-world-through-mathematical-lens-david-darrow-0113

Teens Learning Taxes

 Frankly, I’ve always been surprised (i.e., disappointed) at how little really practical and needed life experience is taught in our high school years (taxes, mortgages, job hunting/applications, budgeting, banking, childrearing, civics/laws, traveling, health, etc.).  We are left instead to largely learn about such matters by happenstance on our own.

But hey, here’s a start:

https://www.scaffoldedmath.com/2022/01/how-to-file-a-1040-tax-return.html

The "Difficulty of Statistics"

 Deborah Mayo on the continuing controversy over P-values and significance testing:

https://errorstatistics.com/2022/01/09/the-asa-controversy-on-p-values-as-an-illustration-of-the-difficulty-of-statistics/

Warning: This Post Might Make You Hungry

 Two of our favorite things, food and math:

https://blog.computationalcomplexity.org/2022/01/math-problems-involving-food.html

Today's Lesson In Recursion...

 

Some Quickie Probability

 Probability distributions via plus Magazine and 'Maths In a Minute':

https://plus.maths.org/content/what-are-probability-distributions

Aussie Math

 They say 'don't judge a book by its cover,' but I don't know, this one looks interesting and made me chuckle:

https://blog.tanyakhovanova.com/2022/01/a-dingo-ate-my-math-book/

Wonder What the Current Numbers Look Like?

 January 6th anniversary approaching:

https://flowingdata.com/2022/01/04/analysis-of-facebook-groups-before-january-6/

Puzzletime

 A little logic puzzle from Presh Talwalkar to start off the year:

https://mindyourdecisions.com/blog/2022/01/03/incredible-logic-puzzle-for-11-year-olds/