image screencap from CBS.com
It’s always fun when things you like intersect, especially when math is involved! One of my favorite shows is CBS’s Elementary, so I was very excited when earlier this month there was a math-themed episode. In the second episode of Season 2, “Solve for X,” we see series regulars Sherlock and Joan investigating the death of a mathematician. As the mystery progresses, they realize that the murder victim was working on the famous P vs. NP problem, and may have been killed by a rival interested in claiming the Millenium Prize associated with finding the solution.
Do you plan to attend the Joint Math Meetings (JMM) in Baltimore, MD? The meeting is the largest math meeting in the world and will take place from January 15 – 18, 2014 (Wednesday – Saturday). The complete program is available 
Paying rent – it’s an annoyance that many of us have to deal with on a regular basis. But, it’s also a source of interesting mathematics. Splitting rent in an equitable way is a classic problem in fair division, one which I’ve posed to my own students in the following manner:
One might think that asking a question is very trivial; in mathematics, maybe in early years of learning, asking what 1+1 is might be very innocent, until to later realize that the answer can be complicated. After years of mathematical training, some students seem to get so used to be assigned exercises that they may think that asking questions (and solving them) probably is the easiest skills they need to acquire during their training. Nevertheless, Georg Cantor seems to hold a different opinion about questions; indeed, he claimed, “In mathematics, the art of proposing a question must be held of higher value than solving it.” What could be involved in asking a question that makes it so important, according to Cantor?