3
Mar 14

A Math Rocket

I found this cool retro sci-fi book cover on Sadburro. I wish I could get my car loaded up with formulas like this.

26
Aug 13

Math + Synesthesia

This is the newest book on my must read list. It is a series of essays by Daniel Tammet, an autistic savant and synesthete, about his perception of mathematics as more closely woven to the phenomenal world. Check out the review from Brain Pickings.

18
Mar 13

Updike and Word Probems

I’ve been reading through a John Updike collection called Problems and Other Stories. I really enjoyed the collection as a whole, but I was thrilled to reach the title story and find out it is written in word problems. Above is an example. It reminds me of an ice breaking activity I did with an online class 2 semesters ago in which I had them write the word problems of their lives. I’m not sure why I stopped with it. We had a lot of fun with the idea.

6
Aug 12

Math + Poetry

Here is a blog to watch. Scientific American is running a guest blog on it’s site by Bob Gruman called mhpoetica. It explores the world of mathematical poetry. Yes, there is a “world”.

Thanks, Jim

11
Apr 11

Will Pogany’s Mother Goose

I ran across these stunningly mathematical illustrations at the ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive. They are from Will Pogany’s Mother Goose. Follow the link to their post. The above is not the only one. This guy seemed obsessed with symmetry. I feel like I could teach a whole class on his work.

4
Apr 11

Math + Poetry

Are you like me, do you need more geometry in your poems? Check out the work of French poet Guillevic. His Geometries is definitely next on my night stand. Want to know what you’re getting into? The Perpetual Bird has a great post on Guillevic.

Thanks, Jim, for sending this my way.
Pic by brancolina

28
Mar 11

R&J, a classic math tragedy

There are a lot of cool Venn’s out there. This has to be one of my favorites though. The bad thing is I can’t remember where I found it. Leave a comment if it’s yours or know “from whence it came.” (The spirit of the bard taketh over)

20
Dec 10

Mathematical Nonsense

My daughter is a fan of the “If you give a x a y” childrens books. We checked out Time for School, Mouse! from the library, and I got to this page and was immediately curious. Some of the expressions seem well formed, like $128\pi + \measuredangle N-\phi$, others seem like nonsense, $09z = X +\sum (\approx )\psi$. Anyone recognize anything familiar in there? Could this be an instance of math-washing, using the veneer of mathmatical coolness for one’s own non-mathematical ends?

11
Oct 10

New on the Must Read List: Proofiness

I’m always arguing with my students about the value of mathematics in the real world. However, it is almost as important for any liberal arts student to know how mathematics is commonly misused as to know how to use it. I caught the review of Proofiness in Scientific American and am eager to read it to see if I might be able to use it with one of my classes.

27
Sep 10

Math-Poetry Blog

A friend sent over a link to an interesting math-poetry blog called Intersections authored by JoAnne Growney

Thanks, Jim

Pic by scieneline