Category Archives: History of Mathematics

Attention Please! A Roundup of Posts on Other AMS Blogs (Part 1)

Lately, I’ve been seeing a lot of posts on other AMS blogs that have piqued my interest and really got me thinking about a variety of different subjects. As we approach the end of this interesting and oh-so-challenging year, I … Continue reading

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The TODOS Blog: A Tour

We are almost midway through Hispanic Heritage Month (September 15 – October 15)!  This month marks a national holiday in the United States that began as a way to promote the history, contributions, and culture of Hispanic-Americans. The month wouldn’t … Continue reading

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Old and New Math Celebrations

With all the news about the coronavirus, the uncertainty, and stress many are currently facing, I wanted to write a post with some levity ¹. What better day than this! Today is both the first International Day of Mathematics (IDM) … Continue reading

Posted in Applied Math, Current Events, History of Mathematics, Math Communication, Mathematics and Computing, Recreational Mathematics | 1 Comment

ThatsMaths: A Tour

ThatsMaths is a blog by Peter Lynch, an emeritus professor of the University College Dublin’s School of Mathematics and Statistics. Many of the posts on the blog are articles that Lynch has written for the Irish Times. Please join me … Continue reading

Posted in Applied Math, Biomath, Blogs, History of Mathematics, Mathematics and the Arts, people in math, Statistics | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments Off on ThatsMaths: A Tour

In honor of Black History Month

February 1 marked the beginning of Black History Month. Its origin trace back to 1926, when the historian Carter G. Woodson pioneered “Negro History Week” in the second week of February because it coincided with the birthdays of former US president … Continue reading

Posted in Black History Month, Blogs, Current Events, History of Mathematics, Math Education, people in math, Publishing in Math, women in math | 2 Comments

(Re)Discovering Identities

In November, I ran across a very interesting article in QuantaMagazine “Neutrinos Lead to Unexpected Discovery in Basic Math“ by Natalie Wolchover. She described the discovery that three physicists — Stephen Parke (Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory), Xining Zhang (University of Chicago) … Continue reading

Posted in Applied Math, History of Mathematics, Linear Algebra, Physics, Recreational Mathematics | Comments Off on (Re)Discovering Identities

Let’s Talk About Viral Equations

Recently, there was a viral post about solving the equation below: Many mathematicians and social media powerhouses have weighed in on what the answer should be. But, why has this equation led to a lot of debate? This is not … Continue reading

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Inclusive Math History

Earlier this month, Anna announced on Twitter “It’s finally happened, I got tapped to teach History of Math. Since I cover so much of the euro white guy stuff in number theory, I want to do a People’s History of … Continue reading

Posted in History of Mathematics, Issues in Higher Education, K-12 Mathematics, Math Education, people in math, Uncategorized, women in math | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Putting Math In Context

So, I’ve been eavesdropping on math history Twitter for the better part of a year now and there is one thread of conversation over there that I’ve been wanting to talk about, namely, the question of whether math – the … Continue reading

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On Mathematical Superpowers and Black History Month

“Which MATHEMATICAL superpower would you prefer?” Ben Orlin asked on his Math with Bad Drawings blog. He offered readers three superpower options: super approximation, or “the ability to immediately answer any numerical question to within 20% accuracy,” super visualization, or … Continue reading

Posted in History of Mathematics, Issues in Higher Education, K-12 Mathematics, Math Communication, Publishing in Math | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments