...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.

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"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, February 3, 2017

Mathy Things From the Week


For your reading weekend:

1)  Looking for distraction, Brian Hayes took on a James Tanton problem here:

2)  Latest video from Grant Sanderson on fractals:

3)  A review of Daniel Levitan’s book, “A Field Guide to Lies,” which I highly recommended awhile back:

4)  Latest “Math Teachers At Play” blog carnival here, with plenty of links:

5)  As if I hadn’t been seeing enough evil this week, Ben Orlin chimed in with ‘evil mathematicians’… and, cracked me up:
https://mathwithbaddrawings.com/2017/02/01/historys-most-evil-mathematicians/

(p.s... I think Ben should join up with whoever does the @TrumpDraws account -- would be the greatest cartoon collaboration in world history, BELIEVE ME ;)

6)  Joselle crosses various boundaries (math, biology, physics, information theory), as she often does, in a new post, “Life in the Inanimate”:

…You may also want to check out Philip Ball’s first piece for Quanta on life’s complexity:

7)  I’ve covered it a bit previously, but another good piece on the Libratus poker-playing program that just walloped human pros:

8)  New President announced for MAA:

9)  A shame we even need to be thinking about such things, but we do, and Evelyn Lamb presents “A Math Lesson From Hitler’s Germany”:

...I'll also reiterate from earlier in week ICYMI, Dr. Lamb is offering a new email newsletter you can subscribe to by going here:

10)  The latest (Jan.) “Journal of Humanistic Mathematics” online here:

11)  Timing is everything... I was hoping to have an interview up with Francis Su in a few weeks, and now Quanta has beat me to the punch with this wonderful offering:
https://www.quantamagazine.org/20170202-math-and-the-best-life-francis-su-interview/

12)  Another editorial on why mathematical reasoning is a skill worth striving for (h/t Anthony Bonato):
http://swarthmorephoenix.com/2017/02/02/why-mathematical-reasoning-should-be-a-part-of-civic-education/

13)  In a largely humor-challenged week, I'll toss in this bit of humor from a tweet and its comments:
https://twitter.com/juliagalef/status/826813945084145665

14)  Keep up with news of the April 22 "March For Science" here:
https://marchforscience.com


Potpourri BONUS! (extra NON-mathematical links of interest): 

1)  This week’s This American Life episode was another re-run of a classic, fun show, this time on ‘coincidences’:

2)  There is a nationwide coffeehouse fundraiser for the ACLU this weekend. Check for participants in your area:
http://sprudge.com/a-nationwide-coffee-fundraiser-for-the-aclu-115163.html
And an online petition calling for the impeachment of Emperor Trump:


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