Weekend Reads

Perhaps to compensate for last week's short list, a longer math potpourri this week:

1)  The "bigger problems" of science, from Andrew Gelman, over at Retraction Watch:
http://retractionwatch.com/2016/05/19/retractions-arent-enough-why-science-has-bigger-problems/

2)  This is old, but just crossed my screen this week: An old Quora thread with a wide variety of riddles/puzzles (some good, fresher ones among many old standbyes):
https://www.quora.com/Whats-a-riddle-that-many-people-of-above-average-intelligence-cannot-solve

3)  Speaking of Quora, Scott Aaronson did an "Ask Me Anything" session there this week:
https://www.quora.com/session/Scott-Aaronson/1?share=1

4)  The latest "Carnival of Mathematics" here:
http://hardmath123.github.io/carnival-of-mathematics-134.html

5)  A little overview of 'big data' from plus Magazine:
https://plus.maths.org/content/big-data

6)  Wonderful Fermat history from Jim Propp:
http://tinyurl.com/z34n9vb

7)  The Aperiodical paid tribute to Solomon Golomb:
http://aperiodical.com/2016/05/solomon-golomb-1932-2016/

8)  56-min. video... Marcus du Sautoy on his new book, "What We Cannot Know":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbo3NZdReEg

9)  Ben Orlin answers 2 questions at one time -- "Will this be on the test?" and "Will this end up in a cartoon?":
http://tinyurl.com/gram5lu

10)  If you like a little physics mixed in with your math, another fun Numberphile video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AEpQ8YxupfQ [corrected]

(not sure, but Tadashi Tokieda may be surpassing James Grime as my favorite Numberphile presenter! ;-)

11)  Allen Downey cheerleads for Bayesian statistics:
http://allendowney.blogspot.com/2016/05/learning-to-love-bayesian-statistics.html

12)  Probably no surprise to anyone, Andrew Wiles wins the Abel Prize:
https://thatsmaths.com/2016/05/19/andrew-wiles-wins-2016-abel-prize/

13)  Scientific American investigates a couple of very large numbers:
http://www.scientificamerican.com/video/epic-math-battles-go-versus-atoms/

14)  Ken Ono profiled and interviewed in Quanta Magazine, just yesterday:
https://www.quantamagazine.org/20160519-ken-ono-mathematician-inspired-by-ramanujan/

15)  Adam Kucharski talks about the mathematics of gambling (7-min. podcast; you may want to check out some of the older "related content" that is listed as well):
http://www.thenakedscientists.com/HTML/specials/show/20160516-2/

16)  Another podcast of Keith Devlin offering his view of math education (...and introducing me to an image I shan't forget: "chocolate-covered broccoli"):
http://ijpr.org/post/learning-and-using-math#stream/0


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

1)  This is just the bizarre account of an "aphantasiac" (Blake Ross at Vox) describing his inability to 'visualize' as others do:
http://www.vox.com/2016/5/19/11683274/aphantasia

2)  ...and of a quite different mood, this powerful piece of writing on rape, that manages to tread a delicate line between heavy and light (h/t to Susan Lerner):
http://booth.butler.edu/2016/05/13/how-to-write-a-rape-piece-if-you-really-feel-you-must/

Friday the 13th Potpourri (read at your own risk)

A somewhat short selection this week:

1)  Steven Strogatz talking about math education (and being "stuck" in 1960s thinking) on "Innovation Hub" podcast:
https://soundcloud.com/innovationhub/should-we-teach-less-math

2)  ...and related to above, Jason Wilkes and Bob Sun on learning mathematics (12-min. podcast):
https://viewpointsradio.wordpress.com/2016/05/08/16-19-segment-2-the-formula-to-make-learning-math-easy/
...see my overview of Wilkes' new book here:
http://mathtango.blogspot.com/2016/05/feel-burn.html

3)  Some varieties of graphical representation considered, using gun violence as an example:
https://socialmathematics.net/2016/05/09/visualization-of-gun-laws-and-gun-violence/

4)  Of geometry, triangular cakes, and cuts (from DataGenetics):
http://datagenetics.com/blog/may12016/index.html

5)  A compendium of problems from Stephen Cavadino:
https://cavmaths.wordpress.com/puzzles-and-starters/

6)  Math teacher Fawn Nguyen's writing has always been touching to read... fun, thoughtful, moving, unpredictable; you never know what to expect. So it's a particular joy that for the month of May she has been posting most days at her blog "Finding Ways":
http://fawnnguyen.com

7)  Kids write the darnedest things:
http://indy100.independent.co.uk/article/this-kid-has-the-kind-of-genius-you-cant-teach-in-school--Wkg19SHPGW


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

1)  Crisis in replication in science... pharmaceutical giant Merck may want its money back:
https://www.technologyreview.com/s/601348/merck-wants-its-money-back-if-university-research-is-wrong/

2)  and speaking of science, John Oliver had a few notable things to say last week -- pretty much went viral, but in case you were vacationing in Siberia and missed it:

Feel the Burn... ;-)

A little overview of "Burn Math Class" by Jason Wilkes....


First off, I'll just say this is a remarkable book... maybe???

I have finally slogged my way through Jason Wilkes' "Burn Math Class: and re-invent mathematics for yourself" (though I need to re-read many parts). And I don't mean the word "slogged" necessarily in a derogatory way, but only to acknowledge that this book is ultimately a mathematics textbook of sorts... the most NON-textbook-like textbook I've ever run across, but still principally a textbook-in-sheep's-clothing.  Wilkes employs his own jargon, his own order and approach to subject matter, his own intuitions, and even Douglas-Hofstadter-like invented dialogues and other quirks to pull the reader/student along. Last year I was calling Michael Harris' "Mathematics Without Apologies" one of the oddest math books I'd ever read; this year Wilkes' book may ascend to that throne.

As I wrote earlier about the volume, I enjoy seeing authors go 'outside-the-box' and take risks, which Wilkes does in spades here, and I admire him greatly for that. Wilkes apparently struggled with math in high school, only to later learn mathematics "backwards," starting with calculus, in large part figuring things out logically on his own. Indeed, he argues that a lot of algebra, trigonometry, and other math can't even be truly understood well, without a grasp of the basics of calculus first. And calculus can be developed through discovery and self-insights, not just rote study.

Here's a lengthy quote from the book's Preface that, better than anything I could say, gives a feel for Wilkes' goals and attitude:

"With this book, I am advocating a process of conceptual arson. The state of mathematics education all over the world has degenerated to a point where it no longer makes sense to do anything but burn it all down and start over. We begin by doing just that. In this book, mathematics is not approached as a preexisting subject that was created without you and must now be explained to you. Beginning on the first page, mathematics does not exist. We invent the subject for ourselves, from the ground up, free from the historical baggage of arcane notation and pretentious terminology that haunts every mathematics textbook. The orthodox terminology is mentioned throughout, and used when it makes sense to do so, but the mathematical universe we create is entirely our own, and existing conventions are not allowed in unless we explicitly choose to invite them.
"The result is an approach that requires zero memorization, encourages experimentation and failure, never asks the reader to accept anything we have not created ourselves, avoids fancy names that hide the simplicity of the ideas, and presents mathematics like the adventure it is, in a conversational form that could easily be read as if it were a novel."

Wow! quite a tall order!
In the end I'm just not sure if this fresh approach to teaching math will succeed with those who most need it. As someone very much ingrained in, and the product of, the old way of learning math, I can't objectively judge the effectiveness of Wilkes' approach. So I'll be curious to see if this book gains traction over time, or what the reviews of more general readers, who've spent less time with 'old' math than myself, have to say. I've long believed that there is NO one best way to teach math, so I don't doubt that Wilkes' approach will appeal to, or be effective with, many, the question is HOW MANY? 15% of students, 50%, 90%; I just don't know?

At times I got lost in Wilkes' explanation or pedagogy, but again, maybe my brain is simply too conditioned with past habits to be open to his novel presentation. He is trying to speak to those who are more of a blank slate on mathematics and eager to be shown a fresh way. Sometimes while reading the text I found myself flip-flopping between, 'well, isn't that clever/interesting,' and 'well, that's pretty dense/turgid.' One section giving me hope though was his chapter on trigonometry. Trig was my worst math subject in high school. I was skilled enough at memorizing things to still get a decent grade, but was frustrated that I really didn't understand it. Eventually, I went to our teacher and asked a bunch of "why" questions ('why is this done in the first place,' 'why does this make sense,' 'why did anyone even think to try this,' etc...). I was further frustrated when the teacher couldn't satisfactorily answer such questions... indeed, I'm not sure he ever even understood what I was asking!  Wilkes' chapter here makes more sense to me than the typical secondary school text ever did. His account of logarithms also is more enlightening than what I experienced in high school. So maybe his other treatments of algebra and calculus likewise will get through to those struggling with traditional approaches.

I'm thrilled that Wilkes made this personal effort and a little surprised there hasn't been more buzz about his unconventional volume. Here's hoping plenty of people (especially students and calculus teachers) read it... not because I'm sure they'll like it (I honestly don't know)... but we will only get a sense of its effectiveness if LOTS do read it and report back. Even if the book fails to resonate with its intended audience, I hope it at least encourages others to develop their own non-traditional, intuitive approaches, instead of following lockstep what has already been done before over and over again... mostly to extended yawns and complaints.

Wilkes is currently a grad student in evolutionary psychology, but with Bachelors and Masters degrees in (mathematical) physics -- I'm not quite sure how one makes that transition (and writes a quirky book at the same time!), but perhaps that is all emblematic of his distinctive approach to mathematics and learning!?

Jordan Ellenberg's blurb for the book, by the way, runs as follows:

“Jason Wilkes’ spirited, hip-nerdy Burn Math Class is what high school math might look like if it were redesigned by people who loved math but hated high school.” (maybe that's my problem, I loved math AND high school!)
Interestingly though, the only other two back-cover blurbs for the volume come from evolutionary psychologists and not mathematicians.

Wilkes has a Facebook page here:
https://www.facebook.com/jason.wilkes.338

It's too early to mean much, but the Amazon page for his book is currently splitting between 5-star (mostly) and 1-star ratings... mirroring my own conflicted judgment of an A+ for Wilkes' effort and a wait-and-see attitude for the book's success or effectiveness.

...Finally, you can hear Jason talk about his view of mathematics in this podcast:

https://viewpointsradio.wordpress.com/2016/05/08/16-19-segment-2-the-formula-to-make-learning-math-easy/

The Weekly Look Back

ICYM some of these:

1)  A brief look at the music-mathematics connection:
http://experimentalmath.info/blog/2016/04/why-are-so-many-mathematicians-also-musicians/

2)  Per usual, a lovely post from Evelyn Lamb, this time inspired by prime numbers:
http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/roots-of-unity/what-the-prime-number-tweetbot-taught-me-about-infinite-sums/

3)  Timothy Gowers talks about the new journal, "Discrete Analysis," he is launching:
http://tinyurl.com/gqkwa2j

4)  Scott Aaronson happily reviews the new Ramanujan film (...and has ideas for future films):
http://www.scottaaronson.com/blog/?p=2707

5)  Bill Gasarch reports a bit more on the last Gathering For Gardner:
http://blog.computationalcomplexity.org/2016/05/some-more-bits-from-gathering-for.html

6)  A wonderful NY Times profile of Dr. Eugenia Cheng via Natalie Angier:
http://tinyurl.com/zlma2aa

7)  James Grime ("Numberphile") on the "pattern" in the last digits of primes:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YVvfY_lFUZ8

8)  Keith Devlin continues his lucid discussion of algebra education (feel free to forward this link to Andrew Hacker ;-):
http://devlinsangle.blogspot.com/

9)  One story getting a lot of play this week has to do with the illegality (due to "the Digital Millennium Copyright Act") of possessing or disseminating certain prime numbers:
http://tinyurl.com/jmxlw5q

10)  Alex Bellos reports on Adam Kucharski's recent popular book on gambling:
http://tinyurl.com/gvaqen5

11)  Quick look at an fMRI study of any linkage between mathematics and language:
https://plus.maths.org/content/no-need-words

12)  Andrew Gelman on the null hypothesis and "a random number generator":
http://andrewgelman.com/2016/05/05/null-hypothesis-a-specific-random-number-generator/

13)  Wow! combining the Collatz conjecture with the 'trolley problem' ;-) (h/t to Cliff Pickover):
http://tinyurl.com/gugkkpu


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

1)  Physics-gadfly Jim Baggott finally reports on the "Why Trust A Theory" conference that took place late last year:
http://www.jimbaggott.com/articles/status-anxiety-all-theories-are-not-the-same/

2)  If you're a David Attenborough fan then Ed Yong's homage to the great communicator/naturalist, on the eve of his 90th birthday, is a must read:
http://tinyurl.com/hqz4r2v

2 Book Blurbs (having nothing-whatsoever to do with one-another)

An odd pairing of book blurbs today....

I enjoy most of the essay book compendiums put out by John Brockman and his "Edge" group, including his latest one, simply entitled "Life," centered around evolutionary biology. It contains 18 essays/interviews/discussions that are ~5-15 years old (but still interesting and pertinent), from very well-known names. I highly recommend the volume (it's one of the few non-math books I'm currently reading), but the reason I mention it at all is this 2001 quote from the renowned biologist Ernst Mayr that I found too depressingly vital and spot-on, in lieu of our current politics, to not pass along:

"They recently tested a group of schoolgirls. They asked, 'Where is Mexico?' Do you know that most of the kids had no idea where Mexico is? I'm using this only to illustrate the fact that -- and pardon me for saying so -- the average American is amazingly ignorant about just about everything. If he were better informed, how could he reject evolution? If you don't accept evolution, then most of the facts of biology don't make sense. I can't explain how an entire nation can be so ignorant, but there it is."

People wonder how-in-the-world the Trump phenomena has happened? Well, those 2001 students, and their relations, are today part of the electorate.
America has had a good 200+ year run, but perhaps, contrary to political rhetoric, our best days are behind us. Within a couple decades it may be time for China, Germany, Japan, or someone else to take the lead in the world until America can re-educate its citizenry for the times we live in. Just sayin'....

And now, moving on to something completely different (more upbeat)....

If you've enjoyed any of the several latter-day popular volumes (by Derbyshire, du Sautoy, Rockmore, Sabbagh) on the Riemann Hypothesis, and are ready for something a little more mathy or technically meaty on the subject, Barry Mazur's and William Stein's "Prime Numbers and the Riemann Hypothesis" is for you (David Mumford calls it, "a soaring ride"). This slim, terse volume by a couple of excellent math explicators comes in at about 140 pages... but if you eliminate much of the white space and the diagrams/illustrations, you are probably left with less than ~60 pages of text to read (of course the diagrams are essential to making sense of the text, but still there is a brevity of reading).

If you are not particularly interested in the Riemann Hypothesis (I know some folks are engrossed by say, P vs. NP, but shrug at the RH) the book is not for you... it is not a "fun" or entertaining read, but a serious, if succinct, treatment of what many consider the most important, fascinating unsolved problem in all of mathematics; one upon which a great many other important conjectures depend.
For someone like myself it is a very rich read, though I suppose for someone already deeply/professionally entrenched in the details of the RH it may be a more perfunctory treatment. One suspects it will become a staple read for many college number theory courses.
I doubt the RH will ever be proven in my lifetime, but by the end of this slim volume one feels some bit of hope... though I will predict one thing: if the Riemann Hypothesis IS proven, it won't be accomplished by anyone who has voted for Donald Trump ;-]

Anyway, this book will certainly make my year-end list of best popular math books for 2016, even though it does not fit the "general audience" criteria as well as other volumes typically on that list.

Math From the Week Gone By

Read on....

1)  Need a mini-brain-workout... try Futility Closet's "Pagan Island" problem:
www.futilitycloset.com/2016/04/24/pagan-island/

2)  Also via Futility Closet, in 1897, the Indiana legislature tried to do some math:
http://www.futilitycloset.com/2016/04/24/podcast-episode-103-legislating-pi
(am afraid this may give ideas to today's Republicans)

3)  Who knew?... I'd never heard of Lyndon LaRouche's connections back to famous mathematicians (Cantor and Riemann) before Michael Harris brought it up:
https://mathematicswithoutapologies.wordpress.com/2016/04/24/riemann-cantor-and-lyndon-larouche/

4)  An essay on the lives and ages of mathematicians from Manil Suri in the NY Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/25/opinion/the-mathematicians-90th-birthday-party.html

5)  Plenty of variety in the latest "Math Teachers At Play" blog carnival:
https://denisegaskins.com/2016/04/25/math-teachers-at-play-97-blog-carnival/

6)  Numberphile with another grr-r-r-reat Tadashi Tokieda piece:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGkvyN6s9cY&feature=youtu.be

7)  Siobhan Roberts on (120-sided) "disdyakis triacontahedron" dice!:
http://www.newyorker.com/tech/elements/the-dice-you-never-knew-you-needed

8) The Princeton Companion to Applied Mathematics reviewed:
http://math-blog.com/2016/04/27/the-princeton-companion-to-applied-mathematics-review/

9)  Fabulous piece from Dan Engber on 'debunking the debunkers':
http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/who-will-debunk-the-debunkers/

10)  FiveThirtyEight blog offers a "Riddler" puzzle every Friday. The latest here:
http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-perplexing-puzzle-of-the-proud-partygoers/


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

1)  Physicist/Nobelist Frank Wilczek interviewed this week on Krista Tippett's "On Being":
http://www.onbeing.org/program/frank-wilczek-why-is-the-world-so-beautiful/8565

2)  It occurs to me that perhaps two new upcoming books might well be read in tandem:

"The Big Picture" by Sean Carroll
"What We Cannot Know" by Marcus du Sautoy

 

The Friday Mix

Ten from this week:

1) John Horgan has a long interview with Scott Aaronson (...who, I'll AGAIN subliminally remind the MacArthur Foundation, ought receive a Mac Fellowship) over at Scientific American:
http://tinyurl.com/h565aa8

2)   Last week's TED Radio Hour was all about math (though I believe it's a re-run):
http://www.npr.org/programs/ted-radio-hour/?sc=embed&f=225426662&showDate=2016-04-15

3)  Peter Woit gives a positive review of the new Ramanujan film:
http://www.math.columbia.edu/~woit/wordpress/?p=8427

4)  Jim Propp celebrates math... at a birthday party:
https://mathenchant.wordpress.com/2016/04/17/the-paintball-party-problem-and-the-habit-of-symmetry/

5)  The Wallis Sieve via Evelyn Lamb:
http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/roots-of-unity/a-few-of-my-favorite-spaces-the-wallis-sieve/

6)  Enter this contest. You might win:
http://blogs.ams.org/mathgradblog/2016/04/20/sale-baby-shoes-worn/#sthash.2Z2JMwpN.dpbs

7)  Math, the brain, and language:
https://anthonybonato.wordpress.com/2016/04/20/this-is-your-brain-on-mathematics/

8)  12-min. YouTube interview with Australia's Nalini Joshi:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I7-MAdUPGhQ

9)  A blogger writing posts introducing Bayesian analysis:
https://alexanderetz.com/understanding-bayes/

10) Jo Boaler offers a simple-sounding problem for Numberplay this week:
http://wordplay.blogs.nytimes.com/2016/04/18/boaler-math-mindset/


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

1)  90-min. podcast of Sam Harris in discussion with physicist Max Tegmark:
https://www.samharris.org/podcast/item/the-multiverse-you-you-you-you

2)  Tom Siegfried ponders the possibility of extraterrestrials:
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/humans-have-pondered-aliens-medieval-times

Some Math Book Blurbs

Dang, there are so many popular mathy books already out or forthcoming, feel I better acknowledge some of them before losing track of any.

First, a few books on the horizon, readers ought be aware of:

Ken Ono (and Amir Aczel, now deceased) will shortly be out with My Search For Ramanujan: How I Learned to Count.  Gots-to-be-good!

Cathy O'Neil's Weapons of Math Destruction is due out in the fall. (Big data may have met it's match in Cathy ;-)

Also due in fall, Alfred Posamentier with The Circle: A Mathematical Exploration Beyond the Line

Some books out now that I've glanced at and seem recommendable...
...starting with 3 books all touching on statistics, a really hot topic in popular math-writing these days:

Fluke by Joseph Mazur  (I'm getting a bit jaded by these sorts of books by now, but still a somewhat fun read focusing on coincidences, especially if you haven't read too many volumes in this genre)
The Perfect Bet  by Adam Kucharski (a focus on the probabilities involved in gambling)
The Seven Pillars of Statistical Wisdom by Stephen Stigler (perhaps the driest read of these 3, but also the shortest, and by a renowned statistician)

The Call of the Primes by Owen O'Shea  ...another of the many volumes that cover an array of popular math topics (not just prime numbers); looks fine, but may be redundant if your shelf already has several of these overview-type volumes.

Leonhard Euler: Mathematical Genius in the Enlightenment by Ronald S. Calinger

The Mathematics of Various Entertaining Subjects by Jennifer Beineke and Jason Rosenhouse  ...looks to be an excellent treatment of recreational math, but pricey.

Prime Numbers and the Riemann Hypothesis by Barry Mazur and William Stein 
(likely to be in running for my favorite book of the year)

Finally, the volume I'm currently most intrigued by, but am only about a third of the way through: Burn Math Class by Jason Wilkes

I love seeing popular math books take risks and go outside-the-box (which few do) -- this book is very different, though it is giving the common call for change in the way math is taught.  Many books claim to present math in some new-ish way that will make it palatable, if not enjoyable, to all those folks fearing/hating it... I rarely see books succeed because math always reduces to symbols, and symbols are what some segment of the population have inherent difficulty with.
So I'm not sure that Wilkes succeeds in his goals here (he too ultimately relies on symbols, but does attempt introducing them in novel ways) -- I'll be interested to see what average folks without much math background say about his effort -- do they "get it," or, simply get lost in the jargon he substitutes for the more customary jargon? I haven't yet seen an extensive review of the book, especially one from a layperson.
Anyway, I give Wilkes a definite "A" (maybe even an "A+") for effort, but withholding judgment for now on the ultimate success of his approach, until I've reached the end.

Anyway, it's only April and we have an amazing selection of math books already available -- I've only mentioned a few of the ones most interesting to my eyes/tastes, but there are many others as well (if you have a favorite I haven't mentioned, feel free to give it a plug).

2016 -- Gonna be another good year for math!

Come an' Get It: Big Delicious Weekly Roundup

A HUGE and varied math mix this week!....

1)  "Lincos," a math-based artificial language for communicating with extraterrestrials:
http://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2016/04/math-language-extraterrestrials/477051/

2)  Since you shouldn't ever miss an entry from Ben Orlin (especially if you're thinking of getting an MBA):
https://mathwithbaddrawings.com/2016/04/13/mba-master-of-business-arts/

3)  Economics as astrology:
https://aeon.co/essays/how-economists-rode-maths-to-become-our-era-s-astrologers

4)  Interesting post on Singapore mental math:
http://morethansums.blogspot.co.uk/2016/04/singapore-mental-math.html

5)  Review of forthcoming Ken Ono biography of Ramanujan (h/t Steven Strogatz):
http://www.livemint.com/Leisure/LAKvGPYtR58X7Iag7iGL1I/Book-review-My-Search-for-Ramanujan.html
...and an excerpt from the book here:
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-i-learned-the-art-of-math-excerpt/

6)  In the distant past I've touched on the controversy over the Daniel Tammet savant story; this week Simon Singh addressed it here:
http://simonsingh.net/2016/04/brainman/

7)   "Zip-apart Mobius Bands"... well, of course!:
https://divisbyzero.com/2016/04/11/zip-apart-mobius-bands/

8)  Evelyn Lamb with a little poetic... and cubic, history:
http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/roots-of-unity/an-italian-poem-about-solving-the-cubic-equation/

9)  New math paper from Jo Boaler on 'visual mathematics':
https://www.youcubed.org/visual-math-network/visual-math-paper/

10)  A primer on p-values from Plus (magazine):
https://plus.maths.org/content/stop-taking-p

11)  Michael Harris on Perelman, honesty, and crossing the 'finish line':
http://tinyurl.com/qx3zqz2

12)  For the advanced, the latest intro to category theory from nLab:
https://ncatlab.org/nlab/show/Introduction+to+Stable+homotopy+theory+--+P

13)  h/t to Egan Chernoff for passing along this piece on risk-benefit perception (and mostly just risk-perception)... no math involved, but still an important math-related read:
http://undark.org/article/know-this-first-risk-perception-is-always-irrational/

14)  Michael Pershan on Sweller's "cognitive load theory":
https://problemproblems.wordpress.com/2016/04/13/cognitive-load-theory-explains-answer-getting/

15)  "The Sleeping Beauty Paradox" is one of the most hotly-debated paradoxes of all time; Pradeep Mutalik tried to offer some resolution for it at Quanta; go read the comments to see what he's stepped into:
https://www.quantamagazine.org/20160331-why-sleeping-beauty-is-lost-in-time/

16)  At Scientific American, Steve Mirsky interviews (~35 mins.) Adam Kucharski about his new book, "The Perfect Bet: How Science and Math Are Taking the Luck Out of Gambling":
http://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode/the-perfect-bet-taking-the-gambling-out-of-gambling/

17)  So much for this Friday carnival of mathy things; if you need still more don't miss the latest monthly blog "Carnival of Mathematics" up here:
http://chalkdustmagazine.com/blog/carnival-mathematics-133/


  And, personal aside, just a couple questions I have for Mac users (surprised how few responses I got when I previously asked this, but will try once more):

a)  is anyone using free downloadable anti-virus/malware software that they're happy with and recommend? (Avast, Sophos, ClamXav, are the ones I see most frequently referenced, but there are others as well -- and I recently used Onyx to "clean up" an old Mac and was pleased with the results)

b)  if you are now using the El Capitan OS on your Mac are you happy with it? (earlier on, it seemed to have a lot of naysayers)


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

1)  Great article (and longread) on the controversy over diets (even if you're tired of reading about such debates, I'd recommend this one):
http://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/apr/07/the-sugar-conspiracy-robert-lustig-john-yudkin

2)  This re-run from NPR's RadioLab last week, on "Space," was wonderful:
http://www.radiolab.org/story/91520-space/

Another Round of Math Potpourri

This week's extra servings of mathiness:

1)  Evelyn Lamb... space-filling curves... enough said:
http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/roots-of-unity/a-few-of-my-favorite-spaces-space-filling-curves/

2)  For the statistics-inclined out there, Deborah Mayo follows up on p-values, Bayesian analysis, and best practices:
http://tinyurl.com/j2ekvng

3)  Math tool recommendations from a high-schooler:
http://mathbabe.org/2016/04/05/guest-post-useful-math-tools/

4)  Guardian review of new film "The Man Who Knew Infinity":
http://tinyurl.com/zk9z4g8

5)  Steven Strogatz pointed out this "mathematical etudes" site; beautiful Russian animations (no voiceover) of many mathematical ideas:
http://www.etudes.ru/en/

6)  Online Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy has a new entry on "supertasks":
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/spacetime-supertasks/

7)   This week Ben Orlin (and his little round friends) regaled us with fractions and their relationships:
http://mathwithbaddrawings.com/2016/04/06/the-accidental-fraction-brainbuster/

8)  John Allen Paulos recently interviewed via YouTube mostly on one of his older books:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FYf7z0_zMM&feature=youtu.be

9)  If you're not already aware of "The Global Math Project" you may wish to check it out here:
https://www.theglobalmathproject.org/

10)  Finally, weird little article on "trypophobia" (fear of holes; yup you read that right); just squeaks onto my list here because of a purported connection to mathematics:
https://theconversation.com/trypophobia-the-fear-of-holes-driven-by-the-internet-and-mathematics-56928


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

1)  Buzzfeed story (from Peter Aldous & Charles Seife) on Government aerial surveillance of cities and citizens:
http://www.buzzfeed.com/peteraldhous/spies-in-the-skies

2)  Are we real or are we virtual... a recent conference of physicists debated:
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/are-we-living-in-a-computer-simulation/

The First Annual (maybe, only) MathTango Awards!!

There are certain math/science sites, writers etc. that I especially look forward to visiting. They deserve special recognition! And we all love awards ceremonies, right, so without further adieu... the awarding of Sheckies!: ;-))

1)  For popular science writing in a magazine format.... the Sheckie goes to:  Quanta Magazine

https://www.quantamagazine.org/

Of the dozen or more online sites I follow offering regular science writing (with a strong math/physics bent) in a magazine-like format, Quanta is almost in a league of its own, for clarity, consistency, visual appeal, and a stable of superb writers.  So Quanta Magazine, and all those associated with it, CONGRATULATIONS, and keep up the fab work!

2)  For popular mathematics publishing.... a Sheckie for:  Princeton University Press

http://press.princeton.edu/

The more I read, the more I appreciate the behind-the-scenes work of good editors, who really make the books we enjoy so enjoyable! They too-often go unsung. Several major presses regularly publish popular math works, but for consistency, presentation quality, and engaging the reader, Princeton readily tops my list here, and I often wonder, when reading math volumes from other publishers, what could Princeton have done with this!

3)  For science and thought-provoking writing in a blog.... this 2016 Sheckie to:  Shtetl-Optimized (Scott Aaronson)

http://www.scottaaronson.com/blog/

I get feeds for ~200 math and science-related blogs that I regularly enjoy (a small sampling of what's out there)... still, there are only a few blogs that stand out consistently for their overall quality, range, depth, sincerity, insight, novelty, stimulating discussions and comments (and I say that even though there is plenty Scott writes about that I can't even comprehend). There is no blog I look forward to more than Aaronson's Shtetl-Optimized.
As an honorable mention here though I'll also note Brian Hayes' quirky, unpredictable, fun and always-interesting "Bit Player" blog: http://bit-player.org/

4)  For establishing a niche blog serving a long-needed function (reporting on fraudulent, plagiarized, erroneous, and otherwise retracted research; i.e. trying to keep science honest!), and doing it so well.... a Sheckie to Ivan Oransky and his Retraction Watch team:

http://retractionwatch.com/

This one will be no surprise to long-time readers:
5)  Specifically for popular mathematics-writing.... a Sheckie to:  Keith Devlin
 
For wonderful shorter pieces, two of Dr. Devlin's main blogs are here:

http://devlinsangle.blogspot.com/
http://profkeithdevlin.org/

And a list of his prolific books over the years at Amazon here:
http://www.amazon.com/Keith-Devlin/e/B000APRPC6

(he's also the math-guy on NPR radio as well)

Sometimes I feel I become an even bigger fan of Keith's with each new piece of his that I read. Maybe when Steven Strogatz or Jordan Ellenberg have a dozen+ books under their belt my choice will shift, but for now, once again for clear, incisive, instructive, thoughtful, logical math communication a big appreciative nod to Dr. Devlin.

6)  Finally, an easy one to give out, for popular presentation of mathematics in a video format.... this Sheckie to those wonderful folks at Numberphile:

https://www.youtube.com/user/numberphile/featured

They just keep churning out good, varied, high-quality, entertaining, educational math videos... really an outstanding body-of-work!

Anyway, applause for everyone! (next year I'll try to get Billy Crystal to host)
... and what prizes will all these fine winners receive:

....drrr-r-r-r-r-r-r-rumroll.....       

uhhhh, bragging rights to recognition from this teeny corner of the blogosphere....
(and, a Sheckie may be in the mail... or, NOT)

But seriously, so much great stuff out there; had to take a moment to recognize some of it!


[pics via WikimediaCommons]

Some of What Math-Frolic Didn't Cover This Week

  In case you missed any of these from the week:

1)  "Gödel's Last Letter..." blog weighs in on the recently-reported prime last-digit anomaly:
https://rjlipton.wordpress.com/2016/03/26/bias-in-the-primes/?platform=hootsuite

2)  Craig Knecht's work with 'magic squares' via Futility Closet:
www.futilitycloset.com/2016/03/27/magic-space/

3)  An explanation of quantum computing:
http://www.thestatesman.com/news/supplements/simplifying-a-complex-challenge/133160.html

4)  New AMS tribute to Grothendieck (pdf):
http://www.ams.org/publications/journals/notices/201604/rnoti-p401.pdf

5)  Evelyn Lamb reviews Andrew Hacker's latest and concludes, "It Doesn't Add Up":
http://tinyurl.com/zb83c9g
...and has a further followup here:
http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/roots-of-unity/andrew-hacker-and-the-case-of-the-missing-trigonometry-question/

6)  Ben Orlin employs a mathematical magnifying glass to solve a problem:
http://mathwithbaddrawings.com/2016/03/30/a-new-favorite-puzzle/

7)   More beautiful math explication from Erica Klarreich in Quanta (this time on high-dimensional sphere-packing):
https://www.quantamagazine.org/20160330-sphere-packing-solved-in-higher-dimensions/

8)  Nalini Joshi talks about life as a female academic (mathematician) in Australia (...but probably applies most places):
http://tinyurl.com/zufchp8

9)  Andrew Gelman offers a modicum of advice to young researchers amidst the current quandary of journal publication and statistical methods:
http://andrewgelman.com/2016/03/31/greshams-law-of-experimental-methods/

10)  Pradeep Mutalik attempts to clarify the controversial 'Sleeping Beauty Paradox':
https://www.quantamagazine.org/20160331-why-sleeping-beauty-is-lost-in-time/

11)  And lastly, for something completely different, mathematics meets slam poetry:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-04-01/poetic-mathematician-brings-unique-style-to-australia/7291246


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

1)  Animals keeping the beat:
https://www.quantamagazine.org/20160322-the-beasts-that-keep-the-beat/

2)  Recently, TEDRadioHour re-ran this fascinating account of amazing information-gathering:
http://www.npr.org/2016/03/18/470514319/how-can-hidden-sounds-be-captured-by-everyday-objects