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Opinions expressed on these pages were the views of the writers and did not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of the American Mathematical Society.
Category Archives: Recreational Mathematics
Math For Your Ears
It is undeniable: podcasts are having a moment. The burgeoning podcast culture being shaped by the Radio Labs, 99% Invisibles, and Freakanomics Radios of the world, has gotten me thinking about some of the particular hardships of adapting pure mathematics … Continue reading
Posted in Math Communication, Recreational Mathematics
Tagged Beth Malmskog, math communication, Math Radio, Podcast, Sam Hansen
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Alias, Schmalias
While the great line from Romeo and Juliet: “a rose by any other name would smell as sweet” rings true, would a digital rose smell as sweet? We often think of the digital world as a mere “renaming” of the … Continue reading
Mathematician Presents Flawed Proof – in a work of fiction
Following Evelyn’s last post about the new Breakthrough Prize in Mathematics, I will now discuss the opposite of wild mathematical success. Depending on how excited you are about public speaking, the moments before giving a talk at a math conference may be … Continue reading
When Life Hands You Lemons, Make Fibonacci Lemonade
I’m so glad I found Andrea Hawksley’s blog earlier this year! Hawksley is a software developer, mathematical artist, co-founder of the Octahedral Group, an organization of Bay Area mathematical artists. She works on the eleVR project, where she helps make … Continue reading
Posted in Mathematics and the Arts, Recreational Mathematics
Tagged chess, fibonacci lemonade, G4G, games, Gathering for Gardner, mathematical art, mathematical food, origami
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Summer Reading List
My Summer Reading List Having an industry job, I will not have any real change in my routine as summer hits. But I still think of summer as the season of reading for pleasure. So what are some new … Continue reading
Fermi Estimation with Liquid Mercury Splash Fights
The semester is over (sorry, quarter system folks, but you can get your revenge in August and September), and you just want to put your feet up and surf the Internet. Of course, there are lots of ways you might accidentally learn … Continue reading
Posted in Math Education, Recreational Mathematics
Tagged engineering, estimation, fermi problems, fun math, math, mathematics, physics, Randall Munroe, xkcd
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Mathemagical Thinking
So maybe you’ve seen the Flash Mind Reader. If not, go ahead and try it! I wouldn’t dream of depriving you (especially as this is year’s MAM theme is mathematics, magic, and mystery awareness). What you are asked to do … Continue reading
How to get your friend to like math: A multipronged approach
In Math with Bad Drawings, the author Ben Orlin calls the query in my title the most adorable ever, and I have to agree. Now math is so awesome that it’s hard to believe that we actually have to develop … Continue reading
The Revolution Will Be 3D Printed
“What would you print if you had a 3D printer in your home?” James Madison University math professor Laura Taalman is printing a thing a day and blogging about it at MakerHome. Her family has a MakerBot Replicator 2 and … Continue reading
Posted in Math Education, Recreational Mathematics
Tagged 3d printing, afinia, geometry, henry segerman, laura taalman, makerbot, math, math models, mathmatics, saul schleimer, shapeways
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I’ve always resonated with Mobius bands — but now I know signals do too!
So here I am, trained as a topologist and geometric group theorist, starting a job that involves mainly digital signal processing. Today I was perusing the magazines on the shelf at my new job, and what do I see? The … Continue reading