Monthly Archives: June 2015

An Ugly Song That Definitely Won’t Get Stuck In Your Head. I Promise.

If you’ve ever had the hook from Call Me Maybe stuck in your head for three days, you know the power of a well-patterend musical hook. It’s these patterns in music that speak to our human brains and often help … Continue reading

Posted in Mathematics and the Arts | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on An Ugly Song That Definitely Won’t Get Stuck In Your Head. I Promise.

Getting Warmer…

I’m currently teaching a summer school for high school students. Our main focus is number theory and its applications to cryptology, but I like to start each morning with some kind of warm-up math puzzle or game. I know plenty … Continue reading

Posted in K-12 Mathematics, Math Education, Recreational Mathematics | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Happy Deep Fried Torus Day

Last Friday was National Doughnut Day and I hope everyone celebrated accordingly. Aside from being delicious with a cup of coffee, these sweet treats are a great way to think about math. From simple brain teasers to advances in quantum … Continue reading

Posted in Events, Math Education | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on Happy Deep Fried Torus Day

Botanical Mathematicians

When I clicked on a blog post called “Bamboo Mathematicians,” I assumed it would be about the bamboo multiplication table recently cleaned up and analyzed by researchers at Tsinghua University in Beijing. Those bamboo strips, dating from approximately 305 BCE, … Continue reading

Posted in Applied Math, Biomath | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments Off on Botanical Mathematicians