Author Archives: evelynjlamb

You Were on the Moon: Astropoetry from Tychogirl

After my last post about one-syllable math, I tried my hand at a proof of the math fact of Rolle in short words. The constraints and focus on words themselves got me thinking about mathematics in a way I usually … Continue reading

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Simple Words, Complicated Math

A couple years ago, xkcd described the Saturn V rocket (Up Goer 5) using only the thousand ten hundred most common English words. Of course, xkcd readers were eager to try it themselves, and geneticist Theo Sanderson created an online text … Continue reading

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Highly Unlikely Triangles and Other Beaded Mathematics

I first encountered Gwen Fisher’s work at the fiber arts exhibit at the 2014 Joint Mathematics Meetings in Baltimore. Fisher has a Ph.D. in math education and is an accomplished mathematical artist who specializes in beading. I featured one of her … Continue reading

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Blogging in Math (History) Class

I am teaching a math history class this semester, and in addition to trying to teach my students math and history, the course satisfies an upper-level writing credit. It’s a lot to try to cram into one three-hour course! With … Continue reading

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First Impressions of the Second Heidelberg Laureate Forum

Last year, I wrote with some envy about the first annual Heidelberg Laureate Forum. This year, I’m there! I mean, here! Yes, after several flights and a few train delays, I’m finally in Heidelberg, and if the fog clears and … Continue reading

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Making Conferences Easier for Families

Most mathematicians want to make mathematics, and especially mathematical academia, more hospitable to women. One way to do that is to help them participate as fully as possible in conferences, even when they have young children. Due to a sometimes … Continue reading

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Regression, Twitter, and #Ferguson

Like many people, I have been following news about the events in Ferguson, Missouri with shock and sorrow for almost two weeks. I have been following these events as a human, not as a mathematician. But there’s a mathematical side … Continue reading

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The Funny Pages

Ah, summer! Sleeping in, reading fiction, traveling, and, of course, preparing for fall classes. I’ll be teaching a math history class, which will be fun but is entirely new to me. As I cling to the last few weeks of … Continue reading

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Alan Turing on Stage and Screen

It was a big week for Alan Turing dramatizations. On Monday, the UK and US trailers for the Turing biopic The Imitation Game, starring Benedict Cumberbatch, were released, and on Wednesday, the 102nd anniversary of Turing’s birth, the Pet Shop … Continue reading

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The Inaugural Breakthrough Prizes in Mathematics

Last month, the inaugural Breakthrough Prizes in mathematics, founded and partially funded by internet billionaires Yuri Milner and Mark Zuckerberg, were awarded to five people: Simon Donaldson, Maxim Kontsevich, Jacob Lurie, Terence Tao, and Richard Taylor. The prize is $3 … Continue reading

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