Put On Your Thinking Caps

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

buy

catch

fight

seek

teach

think

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

…ANSWERS at bottom of post.

…and lastly, from Twitter this recent post:

https://twitter.com/PhDemetri/status/1376692648753397766

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ANSWERS:  1)  1001

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

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

"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/

Still More Statistical Pitfalls

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

https://junkcharts.typepad.com/numbersruleyourworld/2021/03/note-on-a-simpsons-paradox-in-real-world-vaccine-effectiveness-studies.html

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:

https://statsepi.substack.com/p/how-bad-statistical-practices-drive

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

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.

Of Beads, Rectangles, and Bracelets

 A little geometry, a little algebra, some permutations, and a little problem from Datagenetics:

https://datagenetics.com/blog/march82021/index.html

Jason Rosenhouse

Recently bought Jason Rosenhouse’s “Games For Your Mind The History and Future of Logic Puzzles,” his 2020 volume on, well, the history and future of logic puzzles. Just scanning through it’s pages I can tell it is a delightful compendium of puzzle and logic topics, certainly including many familiar classics, but also with material I think most readers will find new to them. On top of that I have always enjoyed Rosenhouse’s writing (indeed I’m surprised he isn’t a bit better known in the popular and recreational math writing arena). His “The Monty Hall Problem” is a fabulous treatment of that popular puzzle, and he did a similarly wonderful full volume on Sudoku, as well as co-editing other volumes on recreational math, and editing a great tribute to Raymond Smullyan.

https://tinyurl.com/yz9cs9go

Many who are familiar with Rosenhouse first became aware of him though through his former “Evolution Blog” at the old Science Blogs site. That blog title became a bit of a misnomer after he ventured into all manner of topics, having started off focusing on the evolutionist/creationist wars. His writing was always crisp and incisive whether covering math, puzzles, chess, education, politics, or culture, in addition to the original evolution theme (which he also authored a book about). Even when I disagreed with his viewpoint I always admired his logical step-by-step commentary and argumentation, and highly recommend, if you're not already familiar with him, get so, with this current Princeton University Press volume likely a great place to start.

Put On Your Thinking Caps...

 Futility Closet recently offered this probability conundrum that may give your neurons some exercise ;)

https://www.futilitycloset.com/2021/03/11/being-there-3/

Math vs. Psychology....

 OK, today just a little humor... a joke I recently ran across in an old Reader's Digest:

“See that kid?” a barber says to his customer during a haircut, pointing to a 12-year-old standing outside the barbershop. “He is the dumbest kid in the world. Watch. I’ll prove it to you.” The barber takes out a one-dollar bill and a five-dollar bill, then calls the boy inside. He holds out both bills and asks, “Which one do you want?”

The kid takes the one-dollar bill and leaves the shop.

“See?” the barber says, laughing. “The dumbest kid in the world.”

The customer leaves the barbershop and spots the boy coming out of an ice cream store. He says, “If you don’t mind my asking, son, why didn’t you take the five-dollar bill?”

The boy takes a lick of his ice cream cone and says, “Because the day I choose the five, the game is over.”

Math Without What!

Haven't been doing much reading in last year, but am currently enjoying Milo Beckman's fun, jaunty volume "Math Without Numbers" which, if you can believe it, covers several topics in the foundations of higher and abstract mathematics... without any mention of numbers, equations, formulas, and the like!  Difficult to think of another volume quite like it. Highly recommended for those wanting a simple introduction to some advanced math topics:

https://www.amazon.com/Math-Without-Numbers-Milo-Beckman/dp/1524745545

... a review of it here, from The Aperiodical:

https://aperiodical.com/2021/01/review-math-without-numbers-by-milo-beckman/

...and Milo has his own YouTube channel here:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCURP6q1VjGEFfy7GPP3Tm0w

Goldbach... if unprovable, then true!

 IF Goldbach's Conjecture is UNprovable, well then, it must be true! (via Peter Lynch):

https://thatsmaths.com/2021/03/04/goldbachs-conjecture-if-its-unprovable-it-must-be-true/

"... if it were false, there would be some finite even number that is not the sum of two primes. A finite search could confirm this, making the conjecture 'provably false'! In other words, falsehood of the conjecture is incompatible with unprovability. This contradiction forces us to an ineluctable conclusion: if Goldbach’s Conjecture is unprovable, it must be true!"

 

A Bump in Cost...

 John Baez on "the social cost of greenhouse gases":

https://johncarlosbaez.wordpress.com/2021/02/27/the-social-cost-of-greenhouse-gases/

New Math Podcast

 A new math podcast ("On the Mathematical Frontline") from "plus Magazine":

https://plus.maths.org/content/mathematical-frontline-julia-gog

Concerns of Statisticians

“…it’s kind of embarrassing that statisticians are always getting on everybody else’s case for not using random sampling, controlled experimentation, and reliable and valid measurements—but then we don’t use these tools in our own decision making.”    -- Andrew Gelman      

...from this post on the use of statistics in physics, medicine, social science… and, statistics:

https://statmodeling.stat.columbia.edu/2021/02/21/statisticians-dont-use-statistical-evidence-to-decide-what-statistical-methods-to-use-also-the-way-of-the-physicist/

Music Interlude....

 Been another rough week for a lot of U.S. folks (assuming you weren't able to make it to Cancun for a few days of sun-soaked joy), so just a little music to close out the week....

Manifold Primer

 Nice introduction to manifolds (~50 mins.):

Waiting to Turn a Corner on Covid-19

 I've said before that it wouldn't surprise me if covid case rates spiked upward after a couple of months of vaccinations because of the increased reckless behavior exhibited by large numbers of people, among other reasons. And in this piece Kaiser Fung covers several of the reasons why people can (and will) still get infected by covid-19 following vaccination:

https://junkcharts.typepad.com/numbersruleyourworld/2021/02/eight-reasons-why-someone-can-still-get-infected-after-vaccination.html

It may take many months for the full benefit of vaccination programs to begin to appear (and that assumes the efficacy rate is anywhere near what's been touted). People need to remain vigilant and patient... and not be swayed by denialists' focus on every case of infection following vaccination.

Whoa!! (...Terms of Derangement)

 Just a li'l obvious numerology for today.... Have QAnon followers yet realized that "Nostradamus," "impeachment," "Donald Trump," "Dead in March," "Ides of March," and even "Nancy Pelosi" ALL contain 11 letters (...no mere coincidence). "Eleven" itself has 6 letters and is the atomic number of "sodium," also with 6 letters... and when 6 is multiplied by 11 (a prime number by the way, IF you know what I mean!) it yields 66, a precursor clearly to 666, sign of the beast! So beware March 15, the very day, incredibly, that H.P.  Lovecraft (yet also 11 letters) passed from this planet, and when the Orange Julius may too thus face resurrection! Tremble if you must, and certainly stay tuned... the numbers can't lie (psssst... "Eric Swalwell" extends to 12 letters, OMG!), nor shall the lamb and the lion ever lie down together in this century (and despite misguided wishes, the answer my friend AIN'T blowin' in the friggin' wind). QAnon speaketh, for all who will but listen reverently and take appropriate action. Those who comprehend need no more explanation, and those who do not comprehend... well, misquoth the Raven, never shall.  Let the liberal sheeple succumb to their hoax vaccines, while QAnoners resist all such stochastic mind-control attempts and take back control ("Don't tread on ye"). Covid, schmovid!!

In the meantime I leave you with this bit of carefully-coded message, easily translatable by all those in-the-know:

Where the Hell, indeed....

A Little Bedtime (or whenever) Reading....

 A new issue of the Journal of Humanistic Mathematics is out with lots of varied articles (PDFs):

https://scholarship.claremont.edu/jhm/vol11/iss1/

Coffee Harangue....

 

(from Wikipedia)

 As if there aren't enough things to be bugged about in the world these days, here's another thing I've been grousing about for awhile (does it bug anyone else?):

I drink a fair amount of coffee, and enjoy trying out lots of cheap brands always in the (futile) hope of finding a cheapie I really, really like. Anyways, here’s the part that bugs me… almost always the container recommends using “1 to 2 tbsp. of coffee per 6 oz. of water.” First of all, “1 to 2” tbsp. is a big, 100% difference… even granting variability among consumers can’t they come up with a more precise statement (and then simply say add more or less according to personal taste). But the bigger problem is where the heck does 6 oz. come from??? A standard “cup” is 8 fluid oz. so why isn’t THAT the standard for directions? Anybody have a clue? Moreover, the question is (at least in America) does anyone even drink a “cup” of coffee anymore… most coffee mugs hold more than a standard “cup”…. checking out some of my mugs at home I found they generally held between 10 and 12 oz. of liquid, so hey, instruction-writers come on catch up to reality! (...or maybe I've just had a wee bit toooo much caffeine this morning).

Carry on… (i.e., go back to being concerned about covid, climate change, creeping fascism, and Redditors gaming Wall Street).