Functional Drawing at C&!
Last week I taught at the first (year 0) of C !, the Camp for Algorithmic Math Play. It was a lot of fun working on mathematical play and games with a group of Continue reading
Maxwell's Demon
Vain attempts to construct order
Latest posts
Let them be
In the previous post on curvahedra spheres, we actually missed an interesting collection of curvahedra balls, as we assumed that every face had at least 3 sides. This makes a lot of sense Continue reading
Making Spheres
Curvahedra can make all sorts of objects, but some of the most satisfying are spheres, like the classic ball itself (here serving as a Christmas ornament). So what other spheres or near spheres Continue reading
The Curve in the Curvahedra
These are Curvahedra pieces:They can hook together to make all sorts of geometric objects. For example, take three pieces and make a triangle (or something triangle like with wiggly edges) Taking a close Continue reading
CURVAHEDRA
My latest project has been several years brewing. A system of hook together paper pieces that can make all sorts of interesting geometry. I have used it to engage people with mathematics, to Continue reading
Eigencurves
Linear algebra is one of my favourite areas of mathematics. Its a simplification but you could say that the things that mathematics does well are small numbers and straight lines. The rest is Continue reading
Snowflake, Seashell, Star
Alex and I initially met thanks to this blog. He was fact checking for an article that included the Taylor-Socolar aperiodic tiling that I had written up. The general theme of the article Continue reading
Data Visualisation, from the World Cup to Drugs in Arkansas
This summer I taught a graduate statistics course in data visualisation at the University of Arkansas. As a final project the students had to find a data set, think of questions you could Continue reading
How to Play Like a Mathematician
This is a vague transcript from memory of a talk I gave at Twitter Math Camp 2014. It was a truly energising event, teacher organised peer professional development. Anyone interested in education, whether Continue reading
Twelve and the real life problems problem
The number 12, not the most esoteric secret of mathematics. Yet through the under appreciated power of the equals sign it can become 6+6, 3*4, 15-3, 36/3 aall before we add in unusual Continue reading
Rational parameterisation of the circle
I really like parametric functions. You take two functions from the reals to the reals and use them to define x and y coordinates of points. For example you can take and you Continue reading
The TMC Logo
Collegiate typography parsed into a fractal, with the theme of lots of parts coming together to make the whole. That s the corporate design spin on the new logo for the Twitter Math Camp, Continue reading
Form follows functions
Functions are fun to play with. Just watch kids sitting around a graphing calculator. The more math you know the more fun you can have. Even better with the power of computers you Continue reading
Numbers, letters and exponential growth
Mixing slightly arbitrary abstract systems can be fun. The two systems that nearly everyone has to deal with are our systems for sound (the alphabet) and for quantity and order (numbers). So taking Continue reading
Mathematics out loud
We are used to reading mathematics, we are also used to hearing it spoken in lectures. I can think of few examples of the natural way to combine these. Why do we Continue reading
Handcrafting the digital: Wedding rings
This is cross posted on Brian Lockyear s Gnarly Architecture blog. Those interested in the intersection of the technical and artistic worlds (probably a majority given the topics of this blog) should take a Continue reading
Permutations, weaving and wedding rings
For a strange variety of reasons, even though we have just celebrated our third anniversary the process of our wedding has only really just been completed. In particular I only recently got a Continue reading
Two Englishmen and a mountain.
Two Englishmen stand in the highlands of Fiji, gazing up at a hill high above the village they are staying in. As there is not a lot else to do, they decide that Continue reading
Five principles of the evil teaching guru
When you apply for a university job you include a teaching philosophy , depending on institution this can be ignored or taken seriously. I have a teaching philosophy. Though I am not sure I Continue reading
Education Depression
Mathematics education is hard, in part because the skills it takes to understand mathematics and to teach mathematics are actually quite different. In addition, once grasped, many mathematical ideas switch in an instant Continue reading