Beyond Euclid #218

Hello from Beyond Euclid 218. Hope your week treated you well.

This issue has AI doing things in mathematics that are either exciting or unsettling depending on your disposition — 5 out of 6 IMO problems, a 42-year-old proof in three days, a hypercube nobody was looking for. A 1,800-year-old papyrus with a geometry diagram that’s still correct. A raindrop simulator that follows water across the entire planet in 3D. Sound frequencies turning sand and fire into geometry. Bluey somehow beating everything on American streaming for the second year running. The planet’s nights getting 16% brighter while some parts of it go dark. Bumblebees that can’t find their way home. A cherry blossom spreadsheet that survived 1,200 years and almost didn’t.

Also: a Dyson handheld fan, the slow death of opt-out privacy, and the global toilet paper rankings, which the US is winning by a lot.

Beyond Euclid goes out every week, has for 218 issues, and is free. If it’s been part of your week for a while, a paid …