...a companion blog to "Math-Frolic," specifically for interviews, book reviews, weekly-linkfests, and longer posts or commentary than usually found at the Math-Frolic site.

*********************************************************************************************
"Mathematics, rightly viewed, possesses not only truth, but supreme beauty – a beauty cold and austere, like that of sculpture, without appeal to any part of our weaker nature, without the gorgeous trappings of painting or music, yet sublimely pure, and capable of a stern perfection such as only the greatest art can show." ---Bertrand Russell (1907) Rob Gluck

"I have come to believe, though very reluctantly, that it [mathematics] consists of tautologies. I fear that, to a mind of sufficient intellectual power, the whole of mathematics would appear trivial, as trivial as the statement that a four-legged animal is an animal." ---Bertrand Russell (1957)

******************************************************************** Rob Gluck

Friday, May 15, 2015

This Week's Math-Mix


some maths from the week:

1)  The 2015 topic for the FQXi annual essay contest was "Trick or Truth: the Mysterious Connection Between Physics and Mathematics." Peruse the entries here:
http://fqxi.org/community/forum/category/31424?sort=community

2)  Another interview with Cedric Villani:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/05/07/cedric-villani-mathematic_n_7223966.html

3)  Just another lesson in Bayesian statistics, the NSA, and terrorists:
http://headinside.blogspot.com/2015/05/simple-math-not-so-simple.html

4)  Perhaps it's just me, but here's an example of the sort of socio-neuro-psycho-biologic study (producing a mathematical formula for "happiness") I don't much enjoy reading :
http://www.pnas.org/content/111/33/12252.full

5)  VERY interesting Numberphile interview with mathematically-inclined billionaire investor James Simons:
18 min. condensed version: https://youtu.be/gjVDqfUhXOY
full length, hour-version:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNznD9hMEh0&feature=youtu.be

6)  Computer scientist Bill Gasarch tries to use logic on the Republican presidential candidates, and it's not pretty:
http://blog.computationalcomplexity.org/2015/05/the-law-of-excluded-middle-of-road.html

7)  One blogger's response to the b-b-b-bogus notion that "teachers stop improving after three years":
http://tinyurl.com/qybl559

8)   Michael Harris on the recent Breakthrough (mathematics) Prize Laureates panel discussion:
https://mathematicswithoutapologies.wordpress.com/2015/05/13/univalent-foundations-no-comment/

9)  "5 Reasons to Teach Mathematical Modeling" from American Scientist:
http://www.americanscientist.org/blog/pub/5-reasons-to-teach-mathematical-modeling

10)  Peter Cameron offers an overview of "Mathematics, Poetry, and Beauty" by Ron Aharoni:
https://cameroncounts.wordpress.com/2015/05/11/mathematics-poetry-and-beauty/

11)  Interesting video on the 3-D Gömböc object having just one stability point (h/t Steven Strogatz):
https://vimeo.com/51887199

12)  Podcast interview with Jim Henle, author of the wonderful "The Proof and the Pudding":
http://slice.mit.edu/2015/05/12/alum-books-podcast-the-proof-and-the-pudding/

13)  Early in week I wondered here at MathTango how many mathematicians ever experience a sudden loss of passion for their subject? ...a question inspired by an earlier post at Mike's Math Page:  http://tinyurl.com/q355eyo

==> Also, be sure to return here Sunday morning when I'll have Interview #31 posted.


Potpourri BONUS! (extra non-mathematical links):

1)  just a nice tweet from the week:
https://twitter.com/CaseyHayden1/status/598380098409144320

2) ...and important news coverage from the New Yorker:
http://tinyurl.com/ng4yuhj



No comments:

Post a Comment